HHffifflHHB 


THE 


WORLD  A  WORKSHOP; 


OR,    THE 


PHYSICAL  RELATIONSHIP  OF  MAN  TO  THE  EAIiTII. 


BY  THOMAS  EWBANK, 

AUTHOR  OF  "HYDRAULICS  AND  MECHANICS, 


NEW     YORK: 
IX   APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

346  AND  348  BROADWAY. 
1855. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854, 
BY  THOMAS    EWBANK, 

lu  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


*™^. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 


WORKING    MEN, 


THIS      LITTLE      VOLUME      IS      INSCRIBED, 


f titimims  uf 


DIGNITY     AND     OMNIPOTENCE 


ENLIGHTENED    LABOR. 


PREFACE. 


I  AM  not  aware  of  a  single  sentiment  in  the  following  pages  to 
which  the  most  devout  mind  can  justly  except,  nor  of  a  thought 
that  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  deepest  tone  of  admiration  for  the 
works  of  God,  and  with  the  purest  feelings  of  love  and  reverence 
for  Him;  yet  so  it  is,  that  kindred  subjects  are  seldom  brought 
forward  without  awakening  opposition  in  persons  who  imagine  the 
Ark  of  Truth  endangered  by  the  enunciation  of  speculations  and 
deductions  in  science  not  included  in  their  creeds,  and  who,  on 
such  occasions,  eagerly  put  forth  their  hands  to  uphold  it — as  if  it 
could  be  shaken  or  overthrown  by  error. 

Truth,  or  rather  the  knowledge  of  it,  is  progressive.  In  nature 
there  can  be  no  end  to  its  disclosures,  for  nothing  is  concealed. 
Upon  every  object,  from  an  insect  to  a  world,  is  written  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  is  made.  We  may  not  always  read  aright,  and 
no  wonder,  since  we  live  in  the  infancy  of  systematic  inquiry,  and 
therefore  cannot  anticipate  the  results  of  its  maturity;  but  our 
errors  will  be  corrected  by  our  successors,  and  theirs  by  those  who 
succeed  them. 

That  this  mundane  habitation  was  designed  and  literally  fitted 
up  for  the  cultivation  and  application  of  chemical  and  mechanical 
science  as  the  basis  of  human  development,  will,  I  think,  appear 
evident  even  from  the  imperfect  examination  here  given  it ;  and 
that  it  is  essentially  the  same  with  other  worlds,  according  to  the 
condition  of  matter  in  them,  and  the  physical  constitution  of  their 
inhabitants,  is  all  but  an  inevitable  conclusion.  To  those  who  deny 
them  to  be  centres  of  reasoning  and  active  populations  it  is  useless 
to  reply  till  they  can  show  for  what  other  purposes  they  were  made, 
and  how  this  little  earth,  a  mere  atom  among  them,  became  so 


VI  PREFACE. 

strauge  an  exception.  If  we  had  had  no  knowledge  of  the  existence 
of  other  orbs,  it  would  have  been  unphilosophical  to  insist  there  were 
none  besides  our  own ;  but  now  that  we  know  they  crowd  every 
region  of  space,  it  would  be  positive  folly  to  contend  that  all  are 
barren  of  life  and  intelligence,  of  science  and  arts,  except  the  one 
given  to  us. 

It  is  preposterous  to  suppose  the  Divine  Builder  erects  tenements 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  them  empty.  If  they  are  not  occupied, 
it  is  because  they  are  not  yet  prepared  to  be  so.  It  may  be  assumed 
that  as  soon  as  an  orb  is  fitted  for  tenants  they  are  put  in  possession 
of  it;  and  then  it  is  that  another  marvel  is  disclosed.  Material 
natures  require  something  to  do  as  well  as  to  reflect  on ;  this  is  indis- 
pensable to  their  being — the  purpose  of  it.  Employment  is,  therefore, 
an  element  of  existence,  and  hence,  The  industrial  activities  of  the 
denizens  of  the  universe  ;  involving,  as  they  must,  infinities  of  modes 
and  processes,  and  multiplied  infinities  of  applications  and  results. 
The  means  by  which  this  diversity  is  brought  out  might,  on  a  first 
thought,  be  deemed  inscrutable  and  incomprehensible,  yet,  like  the 
effects  of  gravitation  or  of  any  universal  law,  it  is  very  simply 
evolved.  It  depends  on  the  diverse  conditions  of  matter  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  exists,  and  as  these  cannot  possibly  be 
the  same  in  any  two  worlds,  much  less  in  any  two  systems,  neither 
can  the  occupations  of  those  employed  on  it.  These  are,  therefore» 
endless  in  numbers,  because  endless  are  the  truths  of  which  matter 
is  the  vehicle,  and  the  applications  of  which  it  is  capable. 

Let  those  who  do  not  sympathize  with  the  idea  that  occupants  of 
worlds  around  us  act  on  matter  as  we  do  in  this  one  (which,  it 
should  be  remembered,  is  an  integral  member  and  sample  of  them), 
look  abroad,  and  see  how  the  same  general  laws  to  which  it  is  sub- 
ject govern  others ;  how  some  in  its  vicinity  resemble  it  in  vo!ume, 
density,  duration  of  days  and  nights,  <fec. ;  how  the  red  soil,  green 
leas,  and  northern  snows  and  ice  of  Mars  approximate  to  it  in  these 
particulars ;  how  larger,  more  distant,  and  more  resplendent  ones, 
belonging  to  the  same  group,  are  illuminated  every  night,  each 
with  several  moons ;  and  how  in  aerolites  we  have  metals  and  metal- 
lic alloys  belonging  to  celestial  regions — and  then  ask  themselves  if 
there  is  anything  unreasonable  or  unlikely,  or  if  it  is  not  in  the 


PREFACE.  Vii 

highest  degree  probable  and  presumable,  that  people  there  add  to 
their  enjoyments  and  multiply  their  conveniences,  by  employing 
the  materials  and  agencies  placed  at  their  disposal — in  other  words, 
that  occupations  akin  to  some  of  ours  are  followed  in  the  other 
spheres. 

Creation  is  not  a  medley  of  mingled  purposes  and  disconnected 
things.  The  unity  of  design  manifested  in  it  is  the  theme  of  every 
philosopher,  and  not  less  observable  and  admirable  is  the  fine  chain 
of  relationship  that  binds  all  the  diverse  forms  and  conditions  of 
matter  in  one  coherent  whole.  There  are  no  violent  transitions 
from  series  to  series,  but  by  almost  imperceptible  degrees  differences 
opep  into  species,  species  into  genera,  and  genera  into  wider  classes. 
And  as  with  the  contents  of  worlds  so  with  worlds  themselves ;  for 
they  are  merely  larger  divisions,  and  not  the  largest,  since  they 
merge  into  groups  or  systems,  and  systems,  in  all  probability,  into 
still  more  and  more  comprehensive  departments.  They  are  as  inti- 
mately related  to  one  another  as  are  minerals,  animals,  or  plants ; 
and  though  we  are  not  permitted  to  observe  the  alliance  in  their 
internal  details,  it  is  proclaimed  externally  to  the  utmost  bounds  of 
the  heavens.  There  are  no  abrupt  chasms  in  their  outlines,  dimen- 
sions, illumination,  or  movements,  and  by  the  strongest  of  analogies 
there  can  be  none  in  their  internal  administrations. 

In  the  latter  respect  the  chain  can  be  no  more  ruptured  than  in 
the  former.  The  absence  of  the  smallest  link  would  break  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  whole,  and  introduce  disorder.  On  a  matter  so 
momentous,  so  overpowering  in  magnitude,  as  the  interior  economy 
of  worlds,  it  would  seem  impossible  that  our  orb  should  be  the  only 
one  on  which  practical  science  is  cultivated.  There  cannot  be  so 
wide  a  gap.  There  must  be  others  more  or  less  closely  allied  to  it 
in  this  as  in  other  respects ;  some  in  which  the  arts  are  prosecuted 
with  higher  and  some  with  lower  results.  No  truth  is  more  patent 
than  the  unity  of  creation.  There  is  nothing  sui  generis  in  it ; 
nothing  that  stands  solitary  or  alone — nothing  that  is  not  connected 
with  and  dependent  on  something  else — not  a  boulder,  a  planet,  or 
a  sun,  not  an  animal  or  the  habits  of  one — not  an  order  of  intelli- 
gences or  an  occupation  of  intelligence. 

Besides  the  varied  and  ever  varying  phases  of  matter,  there  is 


viii  PREFACE. 

another  law  which  still  further  affects  occupations.  It  is  that  which 
is  manifested  in  the  diversity  of  mental  organizations — in  the  genius, 
tastes,  subtlety,  and  power  of  the  elaborators.  No  two  minds  of 
like  construction  and  calibre  are  found  on  earth ;  nor,  from  a  common 
principle  pervading  creation,  can  be  found  anywhere.  A  general 
resemblance  or  type  may  prevail  in  single  orbs,  and  even  extend 
with  modifications  over  a  group,  but  the  probabilities  are  that  the 
differences  as  respects  worlds  and  systems  are  quite  as  marked  as 
we  find  them  in  individuals  and  races.  "On  a  planet  more  magni- 
ficent than  ours,  may  there  not  be  a  type  of  reason  of  which  the 
intellect  of  Newton  is  the  lowest  degree  ?  May  there  not  be  a 
telescope  more  penetrating  and  a  microscope  more  powerful  than 
ours;  processes  of  induction  more  subtle — and  of  analysis  more 
searching — and  of  combination  more  profound  ?  May  not  the  pro- 
blem of  three  bodies  be  solved  there — the  enigma  of  the  luminiferous 
ether  unriddled — and  the  transcendentalisms  of  mind  embalmed  in 
the  definitions,  and  axioms,  and  theorems  of  geometry?  Chemistry 
may  there  have  new  elements,  new  gases,  new  acids,  new  alkalies, 
new  earths,  and  new  metals ;  geology  new  rocks,  new  classes  of 
cataclysms,  new  periods  of  change;  and  zoology,  mineralogy,  and 
botany  new  orders  and  species,  new  forms  of  life,  and  new  types  of 
organization,  all  demanding  higher  powers  of  reason,  and  leading  to 
a  warmer  appreciation,  and  a  higher  knowledge  of  the  ways  and 
works  of  God.  But  whatever  be  the  intellectual  occupations  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  planets,  who  can  doubt  that  their  object  is  to 
study  and  develope  the  material  laws  which  are  in  operation  around 
them,  above  them,  beneath  them,  and  beyond  them  in  the  skies  !"* 
But  it  is  objected  that  physical  industry  and  ingenuity  are  of  too 
low  and  ephemeral  a  nature  to  enter  into  the  sublime  and  everlasting 
plans  of  the  Author  of  the  Universe ;  that  cultivation  of  mind  must 
be  the  object  of  calling  it  into  existence.  True ;  but  as  matter  is  the 
agent  on  which  God  has  printed  his  thoughts,  may  it  not  be  the 
book  which  all  minds  are  to  read  and  to  learn  from  ?  We  know 
that  he  has  made  the  elevation  of  human  nature  to  depend  on  the 
study  and  application  of  principles  impressed  upon  matter,  and 

•  North  British  Review,  May,  1854. 


PREFACE.  IX 

therefore  it  is  consistent  with  his  purposes  and  with  his  greatness  to 
educate  intelligences  by  means  of  it.  And  if  one  class  why  not  two, 
or  ten,  or  all  ?  We  know  not  that  any  are,  or  can  be  trained  up 
without  it ;  and  as,  wherever  intelligences  are,  they  are  surrounded 
by  it,  and  by  displays  of  Divine  wisdom  shining  forth  in  it,  is  it  not 
reasonable  to  infer  that  it  is  a  universal  medium  of  mental  and 
moral  tuition  f  for  which  purpose,  instead  of  being  collected  into 
one  inhabitable  body,  it  has  been  gathered  into  an  infinite  number, 
every  one  different,  and  a  theatre  of  different  phenomena. 

There  must  be  something  wrong  in  the  general  dislike  to  material 
labor,  and  to  the  association  of  it  with  other  orbs.  Few  persons, 
lay  or  religious,  feel  comfortable  about  it,  because  they  are  not 
impressed  with  the  cardinal  truth  that  matter  is  the  agent  by  which 
God  everywhere  proclaims  himself;  and  that  in  it  are  sources  of 
knowledge  sufficient  to  exercise  all  orders  of  intelligences  for  ever. 

If  "  pride  brought  on  the  Fall,"  its  effects  are  awfully  felt  in  the 
low  esteem  in  which  the  elaboration  of  matter  is  held,  and  in  the 
presumption  that  it  is  derogatory  to  spiritual  exaltation.  Thus  the 
original  law,  "  Replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it,"  is  regarded  by 
most  persons  as  a  coarse,  unpleasant,  and  un intellectual  task,  be- 
cause its  full  meaning,  and  its  bearings  on  our  present  and  future 
destiny,  are  not  perceived.  Dwellers  on  the  rest  of  the  planets,  we 
may  almost  be  sure,  received  an  equivalent  injunction,  and  their 
happiness  is  made  to  depend  on  yielding  obedience  to  it. 

But  it  is  to  our  own  star  that  these  pages  are  devoted.  From 
careering  among  other  worlds  let  us  alight  upon  it,  and  scan  from  a 
stand-point  that  has  seldom  been  occupied,  the  ceaseless  labors  of  its 
living  swarms.  All  are  workers  in  and  modifiers  of  matter.  To 
man  in  common  with  the  rest  a  task  is  given  which,  if  fully  under- 
stood, would  place  in  a  new  and  a  better  light  this  much  abused  orb 
of  ours.  It  is  the  opinion  of  many  that  decay  has  seized  its  vitals, 
that  its  resources  are  approaching  exhaustion,  and  the  arts  their 
climax ;  whereas  in  reality  it  is  a  spring  of  physical  truths  which 
man  can  never  run  dry.  To  suppose  their  current  manifestations 
final  is  wrong,  for  before  half  of  them  can  be  found  out  and  made 
use  of  new  developments  will  have  opened  new  tributaries.  Che- 
mistry and  Physics,  as  the  exponents  of  inorganic  bodies,  and  Botany 
1* 


X  PREFACE. 

and  Zoology  of  the  organic,  will  pour,  and  continue  to  pour  forth 
new  elements,  combinations,  forms,  forces,  and  motions.  We  have 
had  pleasing  illustrations  of  this  in  our  day  which,  so  far  from  in- 
ducing fear  of  the  font  failing,  are  prophetic  of  its  fulness. 

WASHINGTON,  August,  1854. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER. 

Terrestrial  phenomena,  and  the  mental  and  physical  constitution 
of  man — Vague  ideas  of  the  relationship  between  man  and  the  earth, 
and  their  consequent  evils — The  diversified  operations  of  men  off- 
shoots of  a  primordial  one — The  character  and  uses  of  the  planet 
deduced  from  its  materials  and  their  adaptation  to  human  pur- 
poses— Agriculture,  or  the  raising  of  food,  a  secondary  employment 
— Other  proiessional  aspects  of  the  planet — For  what  classes  chiefly 
its  materials  were  created — Division  of  the  subject. 19 


SECTION    I. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Plan  and  process  of  the  earth's  erection — Advent  of  man  delayed 
till  its  factory  appurtenances  were  completed — Its  materials  made 
amenable  to  man — Many  yet  undiscovered — The  whole  mineral 
world  awaiting  man's  action  upon  it — The  partial  elaboration  of 
minerals  by  nature — Nature's  labor  ceases  where  man's  is  to  begin — 
The  earth  a  press  of  varying  powers — Device  for  raising  subterrene 
materials  to  the  surface  a  fine  example  of  Divine  engineering — Its 
beneficent  results 26 

CHAPTER   II. 

Arrangement  of  the  earth's  materials  in  strata — The  loose  and 
friable  deposited  between  platens  of  rock — Mechanical  advantages 


xii  CONTENTS. 

of  the  plan  as  regards  the  pressing  of  the  materials,  and  keeping 
them  from  mingling  with  foreign  matters  during  their  elevation  to 
the  surface — Admirable  order  of  the  strata — Granite,  the  lowest 
and  hardest,  serves  as  a  piston  for  pushing  up  the  rest— All  matter 
under  the  influence  of  two  opposing  forces,  one  (gravity)  pressing 
it  towards  the  centre,  the  other  urging  it  towards  the  surface — 
Beneficial  results  of  these  forces,  and  the  beautifully  simple  mode 
by  which  subterrene  matter  is  raised — All  matter  destined  to  pass 
through  human  hands 82 

CHAPTER  IH. 

The  shell  theory  of  the  earth  unmechanical — No  large  portion  of 
it  hollow — The  central  fires  due  to  compression — Every  planet  has 
a  permanent  source  of  heat  in  its  materials — The  sun  the  great  ex- 
ternal heater — No  terrestrial  heat  dissipated  in  space — Practical 
phenomena  relating  to  heat — Ideas  belonging  to  the  ages  of  horo- 
scopes and  omens — The  earthquaking  power  eminently  conservative 
though  locally  calamitous,  like  the  explosions  of  boilers — Use  of 
kindred  forces — The  earth's  materials  moving  towards  one  or  the 
other  of  two  great  laboratories 39 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Fire  indispensable  to  the  factory,  and  to  man  as  a  cosmopolite — 
Withheld  from  lower  tribes,  though  some  use  lights  in  the  night — 
The  Baya — How  fire  was  first  obtained-^-The  inventor  of  the  pro- 
cess unknown — Its  description  by  Homer — Supposed  origin  and 
universality  of  the  process — The  arts  arose  from  the  domestic 
hearth — Sources  of  artificial  light — Nice  provisions  by  which  the 
use  of  fire  is  confined  to  man,  and  conflagrations  from  natural 
abrasions  prevented — Sparks  from  stones — Flint  and  steel — Friction 
match — Fire  and  fuel  obtained,  bellows  devised,  and  the  chief  of 
metals  reduced. 47 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  three  store-houses  of  matter  for  manufacturers : — MINERALS  : 
Conditions  in  which  they  are  furnished — Had  metals  been  in  moun- 
tain masses,  like  granite,  they  would  have  been  useless  to  man — 
Why  iron  is  not  provided  in  the  metallic  form — Pure  masses  in  New 
Mexico — Iron  found  with  materials  for  reducing  it — Why  a  "master 
metal,"  like  steel,  is  not  prepared  by  nature — Consumptiou  of  iron 


CONTEXTS.  Xlll 

and  other  metals — New  metals  discovered  in  the  present  century — 
Aluminum  and  alloys — Ceramic  materials :  Glass — Bricks — Great 
consumption  of  plastic  substances — Varieties  of  rocks  and  stones 
employed  in  public  and  private  structures — Coal:  Primitive  forests 
specially  designed  for  coal — Why  coal  was  not  prepared  at  once,  or 
during  one  epoch — Process  of  its  pressure  between  platens  of  rock 
— Anthracite  the  oldest  coal — Incalculable  duration  of  coal  periods 
— Coal  statistics — Coal  exhaustless — Is  probably  now  forming — 
Salt 58 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  factory  would  have  been  a  failure  if  its  operations  had  been 
confined  to  mineral  stock,  hence  the  VEGETABLE  store-house — Eco- 
nomy of  space  in  the  elaboration  of  timber — Form  of  boles — 
Woods  most  wanted  are  most  abundant — Timber  furnished  in 
manageable  masses — Table  of  dimensions — Average  dimensions — 
The  largest  timber  light,  and  easily  worked — Examples — Ancient 
trees  generally  hollow — Security  against  the  want  of  timber,  <fec. — 
Colors  and  other  ornamental  features  of  wood — Dyes  and  varnishes 
from  wood — Timber  evidently  provided  for  human  arts — Unlike 
minerals,  its  great  consumption  is  met  by  rapid  production. 
— Fibrous  substances — Ropes — Wicker  work,  basket  and  straw- 
plaited  wares — Thread  of  cotton,  flax,  hemp,  <fec. — Annual  product 
of  thread  incalculable  in  its  lineal  extent — Vegetable  food — Statis- 
tics— Labor  of  man  on  vegetables — His  surprising  power  over  them 
— Political  economists  on  exportation  of  food — Multitudes  of  plants 
unknown...  ,..76 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ANIMAL  DEPARTMENT  of  supplies :  Furnishes  matter  of  different 
forms  and  properties  to  those  drawn  from  vegetable  and  mineral 
stores — Universal  diffusion  of  living  beings — Animals  natural  appa- 
ratus to  elaborate  materials  for  human  fabrics — Man's  power  over 
them — -Animals  and  animal  products  in  the  U.  States  and  England 
— Analogies  between  land  and  water — The  ocean — Fisheries — 
Birds,  and  their  contributions — Varieties  of  birds  not  known — 
Insects :  as  miraculous  in  their  construction  and  movements  as  the 
universe  itself — Practical  lessons  in  chemistry  and  mechanics  to  be 
derived  for  ever  from  animated  nature — Silk- worms  and  silk — 
Reflections  on  them — Bees-wax  and  honey — Insects  that  yield  dyes 
— Invisible  animalcula  contribute  to  human  arts — The  existing  pe- 
riod is  that  of  the  full  development  of  animals  most  useful  to  man 
— What  is  to  be  learned  from  the  organic  world 97 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Animate  and  inanimate  motors — The  factory  incomplete  without 
them — Sources  of  power — Animal  power — Working-animals  in  the 
U.  States — Water  and  wind  power — Waves — Power  from  trees  agi- 
tated by  wind — Heat,  the  great  source  of  power — Popular  fallacy 
of  power  repeating  itself — Coal,  the  great  source  of  artificial 
power — Facilities  for  exchanging  the  results  of  labor — The  earth  a 
perfect  factory — Its  duration — Objections  anticipated 112 


SECTION    II. 

CHAPTER   I. 

Man's  form  and  structure  indicate  the  artificer — First  opens  his 
eyes  on  a  world  crowded  with  work — A  true  factory  child — In  no 
other  capacity  could  he  work  his  mission  out — A  factory,  involving 
a  multiplicity  of  operations,  requires  diversity  of  talents — Besides 
variety  of  capacities  and  tastes  in  individuals,  men  are  divided 
into  races — Man  of  Africa — Furtherance  of  the  work  promoted  by 
the  institution  of  races — Gradation  of  intellect  in  species — Intelli- 
gence diminishes  from  the  Creator  to  the  minutest  recipient — 
Absence  of  uniformity  neither  prevents  nor  limits  improvement  in 
races — Knowledge  is  to  cover  the  earth,  but  not  equally  at  the 
same  time — Workmen  for  every  zone — Races  not  of  the  same 
date. ..121 


CHAPTER  IL 

• 

Order  of  man's  appearance  on  the  earth's  great  sections — Races, 
and  their  bread  plants — Independent  development  of  the  arts  in 
America  exemplified  in  the  absence  of  the  distaff,  potter's  wheel, 
quern,  and  probably  the  lamp — Australia — The  arts  not  debris  of 
primeval  refinement — Original  location  of  men — Not  on  the  equator, 
and  why — The  tropics,  the  base  lines  of  civilization — The  northern 
hemisphere  first  inhabited — Tendency  of  civilization  from  the 
equator — Inca  civilization 1 29 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  IIL 

Elaborators  and  their  work — No  stoppage  for  lack  of  material — 
Every  generation  to  work  for  itself— Seasons  for  labor — Average 
duration  of  life  favorable  to  progress — No  factory  carried  on  suc- 
cessfully with  superannuated  laborers — Work,  not  years,  the  true 
standard  of  life — Employees  kept  ignorant  of  the  periods  of  their 
discharge — Succession  of  life  a  beneficent  provision — Man's  instinct 
to  invent — The  world  fast  putting  on  a  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial character — What  is  meant  by  subduing  the  earth — Things  to 
be  made  out  of  inanimate  matter — Horses,  whose  food  is  fire  and 
breath  smoke — Destined  to  supersede  living  beasts  of  draught  and 
burden — Drawing  out  of  the  ground  indefinite  numbers  of  these 
laboring  Cyclops  the  greatest  achievement  of  the  present  century — 
None  other  more  teeming  with  good 139 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Mechanical  forces — Their  development,  variety,  and  abundance — 
The  "  Mechanical  Powers,"  so  called — a  sine  qua  non  to  man  as  an 
artificer — Substitutes  for  a  multiplicity  of  motors — Interchange 
between  force  and  motion  effected  by  them — Also,  one  kind  of  mo- 
tion converted  into  other  kinds — Force  from  liquids — Analogy 
between  mechanical  forces  and  chemical  solutions. . .  .  .146 


CHAPTER  V. 

Hints  to  man  in  natural  mechanisms — Forms — Prototypes  of 
architectural  ornaments — Beauty  of  form — Exemplified  in  nature — 
Wonderful  variety — Three  books  of  patterns — Impossible  for  manu- 
facturers of  fancy  goods  to  exhaust  them — A  fourth  book — God's 
love  of  the  beautiful  further  exemplified  in  colors — More  purposes 
served  by  colors  than  to  please  the  eye — Another  source  of  pleasure 
and  of  mechanical  invention  in  sounds 152 


CHAPTER  VL 

Professions,  apparently  foreign,  are  allied  to  the  elaboration  of 
matter — Physical  sciences  embrace  all  material  phenomena — 
Astronomers,  chemists,  and  naturalists  are  elucidators  of  natural 
mechanics — Work  assigned  to  man — He  is  not  conscious  of  its 
greatness — He  can  make  the  earth  what  he  pleases. 158 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Supposed  objections  to  the  theory  of  man's  earthly  business  being 
that  of  an  enlightened  elaborator  of  matter,  from  the  diversities  of 
communities  and  languages,  considered 164 


SECTION    III. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Two  classes  that  retard  material,  and  consequently  moral  pro- 
gress— In  the  lease  given  to  man  of  the  earth,  materials  were  to  be 
furnished  him,  but  he  was  to  find  labor — People  without  sympathy 
for  material  things  have  no  business  here — Man  is  to  be  no  spectral 
recluse — Monasticism — Dreams  of  spiritualists — An  angel's  shriek 
required  to  awaken  them — The  study  of  matter  adorns  every 
Christian  virtue — South  America  blighted  by  superstition — Eman- 
cipation inseparably  connected  with  progress  in  science  and  art — 
Other  enemies  of  progress — Agriculture  anciently  excepted  from 
the  odium  attached  to  manipulating  labor  "  Respectable  families" 
scandalized,  a  probable  subject  of  surprise  to  higher  orders  of  intel- 
ligences— Cause  of  the  decay  of  nations 171 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Divine  character  and  attributes  displayed  in  natural 
mechanisms — Duty  of  man  to  imitate  them — As  high  an  order  of 
thought  employed  in  the  arts  as  in  the  professions — Fine  arts — 
Exaltation  of  matter  does  not  tend  to  materialism — No  matter 
without  mind — The  power  of  thought,  the  real  prime  mover — The 
amount  and  character  of  man's  labors  recorded  in  matter — Matter, 
the  universal  teacher  and  preacher — Sermons  in  trades — Popular 
absurdity  that  labor  was  imposed  as  a  punishment — Enjoyments 
and  wrongs  of  labor — Supposed  visit  of  two  strangers  to  our  planet 
—Influence  of  present  occupations  on  a  future  life — New  teachings. 

179 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Phenomenon  of  man  reasoning  on  his  own  organization,  on  the 
origin  of  the  universe  ac-j  the  attributes  of  the  Creator — Infinite 


CONTENTS. 

and  eternal  diffusion  of  enjoyment  the  object  of  creation — Why  all 
matter  ia  not  collected  into  one  orb — Advantages  of  breaking  it  up 
into  many — The  asteroids  not  debris  of  a  ruptured  planet — Vo- 
lumes of  worlds  proportioned  to  their  occupants — Pitcairn  islanders 
in  the  heavens — Diversity  in  the  form  of  worlds — Rings  of  Saturn 
— Science  possibly  further  advanced  in  the  outer  planets  than  with 
us — All  worlds  of  one  original  substance,  and  moved  by  one  and 
the  same  force — Iron,  copper,  tin,  and  cobalt  in  other  worlds — Phy- 
sical intelligences  to  make  fresh  discoveries  in  matter  for  ever — 
The  Creator  for  ever  impressing  Himself  upon  it 187 


THE  WOKLD  A  WORKSHOP. 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

THERE  is  a  series  of  initial  and  very  remarkable  facts 
in  the  present  condition  and  disposition  of  the  matter  of 
our  globe  that  have,  I  think,  been  little  regarded.  They 
have  not,  that  I  am  aware,  been  considered  in  the  light 
in  which  they  are  here  presented  to  the  reader,  although 
singularly  illustrative  of  the  character  here  given  to  man — 
a  character  with  which  all  terrestrial  phenomena  accord ; 
the  volume  of  the  Earth,  the  quantity,  varieties,  and 
qualities  of  its  materials  ;  the  difference  between  its  inter- 
nal and  external  products,  its  central  fires  and  internal 
movements,  its  atmospheric  envelope,  the  alternate  illu- 
minating and  darkening  of  its  surface  ;  the  physical  and 
mental  constitution  of  man ;  his  necessities,  enjoyments, 
aspirations,  and  morals  ;  the  duration  of  his  life,  and  his 
education  for  a  more  enlarged  sphere  of  existence. 

The  title  has  been  selected  for  the  purpose  of  arresting 
some  fugitive  thoughts,  in  the  hope  that  scientific  writers 
will  add  to  their  number,  amplify  and  arrange  them  into 
a  regular  treatise  on  a  subject  fertile  as  the  earth  itself; 
and  under  the  impression  that  they  will  serve  to  explode 


20  INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER. 

those  vague  impressions  that  so  generally  prevail  respect- 
ing the  real  relationship  between  us  and  the  globe  we 
inhabit.  Instead  of  universal  confidence  arising  from 
settled  conviction,  uncertainty  is  almost  everywhere  felt 
as  regards  the  extent  to  which  we  should  give  up  our- 
selves to  the  earth.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  viewed  as  a 
mere  caravanserai,  a  temporary  convenience  for  passing 
travellers,  and  therefore  unworthy  of  more  than  passing 
regard :  on  the  other  are  men  active  in  exploring  its 
resources,  drawing  from  it  elements  of  progressive  civili- 
zation, and  reflecting  streams  of  light  on  the  attributes  of 
the  Creator,  and  on  his  intentions  towards  us. 

Let  any  one  whose  mind  the  subject  never  entered 
think  within  himself :  For  what  was  this  spherical  mass 
of  materials  made  1  To  what  special,  or  partial,  or  gene- 
ral uses  was  man  to  put  them  1  Or  was  he  to  do  any- 
thing with  them  ]  The  questions  involve  the  character 
and  designs  of  the  Creator,  and  the  very  basis  of  human 
welfare ;  for  how  are  we  to  work  out  our  destiny  if  we 
know  not  what  it  is  ? 

It  does  seem  strange  that  men  should  never  have  defi- 
nitely determined  the  predominating  characteristics  of  a 
world  they  have  so  long  occupied  ;  that  they  should  have 
fluttered  and  fumed  and  busied  themselves,  like  insects, 
on  little  isolated  hillocks,  instead  of  taking  a  view  of  the 
entire  establishment  and  blocking  out  a  working  plan  of 
the  whole. 

A  glance  at  the  countless  occupations  of  men  ;  at  the 
divisions  and  subdivisions  of  material  and  speculative 
labor ;  at  the  bustle  of  trades,  schemings  of  the  ambitious, 
and  struggles  and  competitions  of  all ;  would  almost  lead 


INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER.  21 

one  to  conclude  we  had  been  thrown  at  random  on  the 
earth,  and  left  to  scramble  by  chance  for  a  living  upon  it. 
Reflection,  however,  points  to  a  rule  or  law  pervading  the 
hubbub,  and  shows  the  diversities  of  pursuits  to  be  off- 
shoots of  a  primordial  one  which  arises  out  of  the  consti- 
tution of  the  globe  and  our  own  organization. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  earth  is  in  every  respect  fitted 
for  man  and  he  for  it ;  and  it  might  d  priori  be  inferred 
that  amid  the  multitudinous  adaptations,  there  would  be 
some  ruling  one  to  which  the  rest  were  to  be  collateral,  or 
in  which  they  centred.  It  was  not  probable  that  his 
abode  was  to  consist  of  a  mass  of  miscellaneous  accom- 
modations without  character  as  a  whole,  or  that  his  facul- 
ties were  to  be  a  heterogeneous  compound  without  refer- 
ence to  some  predominating  task  on  which  they  were  to 
be  employed.  What  then  was  it  that  was  so  conspicu- 
ously to  mark  his  connexion  with  the  earth,  and  more 
than  anything  else  proclaim  him  lord  or  lessee  of  it  1  It 
was  the  character  he  was  to  assume  as  a  MANIPULA- 
TOR OF  MATTER.  The  earth  was  to  be  a  manufac- 
tory and  he  a  manufacturer.  It  was  to  furnish  him  with 
unwrought  material,  while  the  sounds  of  his  implements 
acting  upon  it  were  to  swell  till  their  reverberations  rolled 
over  the  whole.  His  connexion  with  it,  then,  arises  from 
the  work  assigned  him,  the  materials  for  it,  and  the  uses 
to  which  he  is  to  put  them. 

It  is,  of  course,  from  the  materials  of  the  earth  and 
their  attributes  that  its  character  is  to  be  deduced.  If 
they  are  adapted  to  man's  wants,  and  to  be  operated  on 
by  him ;  if  they  are  indispensable  to  him  and  yet  useless 
till  manipulated ;  it  must  needs  follow  that  it  was  designed 


22  INTRODUCTtfRY    CHAPTER. 

for  a  Factory.  If  it  were  wholly  vegetable,  it  would  be 
a  Farm;  if  its  products  were  objects  ready  for  use,  a 
Bazaar.  But  almost  the  whole  is  mineral — inert,  un- 
shapen,  and  unwrought,  while  even  vegetable  and  animal 
substances  require  elaboration. 

If,  as  some  say,  the  materials  were  collected  and  ar- 
ranged as  we  find  them,  to  afford  a  platform  for  living 
creatures  and  a  surface  vegetation  to  sustain  them,  the 
vast  subterrene  minerals  would  be  superfluous — an  idea 
utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  wisdom  of  their  Author. 
The  hypothesis,  also,  that  the  chief  employment  of  man 
was  to  till  the  soil  and  raise  cattle,  is  an  unworthy  one, 
since  it  puts  us  much  on  a  par  with  the  lower  tribes,  in 
making  the  procuring  and  consuming  of  food  the  princi- 
pal object  of  our  being.  If  we  were  made  to  live  like 
cattle — merely  to  eat  and  sleep — it  would  be  true,  and 
the  earth  might  then  be  considered  a  mere  victualling  insti- 
tution. But  with  us,  and  all  intelligences,  food  is,  like  the 
traveller's  staff,  an  adjunct  of  life,  a  mere  aid  in  accomplish- 
ing the  purposes  of  existence.  Hence,  though  agricultui-e 
must  always  be  a  marked  and  honored  department  of 
labor,  it  is  not  the  only  one,  nor  the  chief  one.  The  por- 
tion of  the  earth's  materials  taken  up  by  it  is  moreover 
comparatively  small,  and  therefore  the  bulk  of  mundane 
matter  was  designed  for  something  to  which  the  raising 
of  food  was  to  be  subservient. 

While  most  persons  think  not,  and  care  not,  what  the 
prominent  character  of  the  planet  is,  many  view  it  in  as- 
pects congenial  to  themselves  :  a  theatre  for  politicians,  a 
battle-field  for  warriors,  a  court  for  lawyers,  a  lounging- 
place  for  people  of  fashion  and  leisure,  &c.  Morbid 


INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER.  23 

minds  make  it  a  crowded  hospital  and  charnel-house, 
while  the  Indian  believes  it  was  made  for  nothing  else 
than  hunting  game  in.  With  these,  and  all  surface 
dreamers,  its  vast  underground  treasures  are  not  thought 
of.  The  inorganic  world,  its  forces,  principles,  and  pro- 
cesses, are  to  them  as  if  they  were  not.  It  is  only  as  a 
Factory,  a  GENERAL  FACTORY,  that  the  whole  materials 
and  influences  of  the  earth  are  to  be  brought  into  play ; 
and  with  this  professional  character  of  our  globe  every 
feature  in  creation  will  be  found  to  harmonize. 

For  what  classes  then  chiefly  was  the  world  of  inorganic 
matter  provided  ?  Observe  that  dwelling ;  it  belongs  to 
a  family  neither  rich  nor  poor ;  neat,  commodious,  and 
attractive  in  itself;  it  has  a  garden  in  front,  an  orchard 
and  corn-field  behind.  Mark  the  social  enjoyments,  in- 
telligence, and  contentment  of  its  inmates ;  the  abun 
dance  of  necessaries,  of  comforts  and  conveniences ;  the 
ornaments  and  elegances  in  dress  and  furniture,  with  con- 
tributions from  almost  every  productive  and  decorative 
art.  But,  hark  !  a  train  of  cars  is  approaching.  It  stops 
one  moment  and  starts  the  next  with  a  shriek  for  the 
city,  whirling  us  along  level  and  undulating  lands, 
through  tunnelled  mountains,  over  rivers  on  bridges  of 
granite,  and  others  of  iron.  In  the  quick-moving  pano- 
rama arise  before  us,  and  in  a  moment  pass  by,  brick  and 
lime  kilns  ;  potteries  ;  tanneries  ;  grist,  saw,  paper,  and 
cotton  mills  ;  foundries  ;  machine  shops  ;  chair,  cloth,  and 
carpet  factories.  We  come  in  sight  of  a  bay,  on  which 
ships  laden  with  foreign  merchandise  are  floating  in  with 
the  tide,  and  others  with  home  manufactures  passing 
out.  Crossing  over  in  a  steamer  we  find  an  extensive 


24  INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER. 

border  of  leafless  forest  resolved  into  masts  of  vessels 
crowded  into  continuous  docks,  and  on  landing,  feel  the 
air  rent  and  agitated,  like  rippled  water,  with  the  noise  of 
stevedores  and  draymen.  We  have  business  to  transact 
for  a  friend,  and  pick  our  way  along  the  side-walks, 
among  packing-cases  of  dry-goods,  casks  of  hardware, 
bundles  of  sheet  and  hoop  iron,  and  loads  of  other  goods. 
Next  we  stop  at  a  telegraph  office,  and  in  five  minutes 
our  friend,  though  two  hundred  miles  distant,  receives 
and  answers  our  note.  On  leaving  the  street  of  mer- 
chants for  others  occupied  by  watchmakers,  jewellers, 
opticians,  philosophical  and  musical  instrument  makers, 
engravers  and  printers,  we  call  at  a  newspaper  office  to 
insert  an  advertisement  and  order  the  daily  sheet  for  a 
neighbor.  Need  we  proceed  1  It  was  for  men  who 
bring  such  things  out  of  inert  matter  that  this  world  of 
matter  was  made. 

The  proposition  is  sustained  by  a  consideration — 

I.  Of  the  earth :  its  general  features,  materials,  mecha- 

nisms, and  forces. 

II.  Of  man  :  his  structure,  instincts,  and  achievements. 
To  which  are  added — 

III.  Observations  on  prevailing  mistaken  views  of  mat- 
ter, and  of  man  as  an  operative,  with  thoughts  on  the 
universe  of  matter  and  of  mechanism 

A  glimpse  at  a  few  outlines,  or  rather  dots  of  outlines, 
on  the  gorgeous  map  which  these  inquiries  open,  can  of 
course  only  be  taken.  Volumes  piled  on  volumes  would 
be  required  to  fill  them  up,  and  the  design  is  not  to  illus- 


INTRODUCI  )RY   CHAPTER.  25 

trate  the  subject  so  much  as  to  call  attention  to  it,  assured 
as  I  am  that  no  one  can  fervently  enter  into  it  without 
finding  thoughts  springing  up  within  him,  and  prospects 
opening  before  him — such  as  inspired  and  uninspired 
poets  would  be  glad  to  meet  with. 


SECTION  I. 

OF  THE  EARTH :    ITS  GENERAL  FEATURES,   MATERIALS, 
MECHANISMS,  AND  FORCES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PLAN    AND    PROCESS    OF   THE    EARTH'S    ERECTION. 

IF  a  wide,  uninhabited  district  abounding  in  metals 
were  discovered,  and  upon  it  an  extensive  antediluvian 
structure  fitted  up  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  complete 
machine-shop,  no  one  could  doubt  the  object  of  the  ancient 
owner.  Equally  clear  and  palpable  is  the  purpose  of  the 
Builder  of  this  earth,  as  made  manifest  in  its  construction 
and  factory  appurtenances.  It  is  such  a  shop.  Examine 
the  plan  and  process  of  its  formation  ;  its  granitic  founda- 
tions, superincumbent  courses,  and  the  precision  and  deli- 
beration, so  indicative  of  stability  and  durability,  with 
which  they  have  been  laid ;  note  the  rich  variety  with 
the  stowage  and  arrangement  of  materials  for  manufac- 
turing purposes  ;  how  the  earth  is  full  of  them,  and  how 
those  most  wanted  are  most  abundant  and  accessible. 

And   observe,  moreover,  that   when   the   edifice   was 
finished,  working-stock  secured  in  its  vaults,  with  ma- 


THE    EARTH    MADE    AMENABLE    TO    MAN.  27 

chineiy  to  raise  it,  and  everything  else  prepared  for  the 
reception  of  workmen,  then,  and  not  till  then  (since  there 
would  have  been  nothing  for  him  to  do),  was  man  called 
in  to  take  possession  and  go  to  work.  In  the  early  ages 
of  its  erection,  when  all  was  chaos  and  commotion  from 
the  general  displacement  or  rather  want  of  arrangement 
of  its  materials,  what  could  he  have  done  ?  And  in  the 
calmer  periods  that  succeeded  as  it  approached  completion 
he  could  only  have  been  in  the  way.  God  employs  no 
idlers — creates  none. 

While  the  first  clays,  sand,  metals,  and  coals  were  being 
digested  and  put  in  their  places,  the  condition  of  the 
atmosphere  was  such  that  he  could  not  have  inhaled  it 
and  lived.  Neither  food,  climate,  nor  suitable  arenas  for 
his  exertions  were  then  provided.  Like  one  of  his  own 
structures,  the  factory  required  to  be  warmed,  ventilated, 
and  furnished,  before  its  intended  occupants  could  enter 
with  safety. 

The  character  of  a  factory,  as  stamped  on  our  globe,  is 
also  evinced  in  its  materials  being  made  amenable  to 
human  power.  This  is  apparent  to  every  one,  but  not 
perhaps  equally  so  that  it  results  from  a  law  which  has 
determined  the  inertia  of  matter  with  reference  to  human 
strength.  This  law  lies  at  the  foundation  of  physical 
science  and  arts.  Had  the  earth's  substances  been  too 
heavy  or  too  light,  or  had  they  in  other  qualities,  as  hard- 
ness, softness,  brittleness,  toughness,  &c.,  defied  us,  we 
could  have  made  little  use  of  them.  But  they  are  in  all 
respects  made  subject  to  man,  while  their  properties  are 
specially  and  indeed  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  exer- 
cise of  his  faculties.  Many  are  doubtless  yet  to  be  dis- 


28  PARTIAL    ELABORATION    BY    NATURE. 

covered,  but  none  can  eventually  elude  or  resist  him. 
Already,  he  arrests  the  most  evanescent  and  subdues  the 
most  stubborn  ;  invisible  and  intangible  airs  he  manages 
with  the  same  certitude  as  liquids  and  solids  ;  lightning 
he  evolves  at  will ;  as  his  messenger  it  is  kept  flying  to 
and  fro  over  the  face  of  the  earth ;  besides  which  he  is 
daily  finding  new  employment  for  it  in  the  workshop.  It 
can  henceforth  know  no  rest. 

Nearly  all  matter  is  inorganic.  The  great  mass  of  the 
earth — the  whole  of  it  except  its  skin-like  surface,  is  such  ! 
What  does  this  mean  ]  Why  all  this  immature  matter, 
unless  it  be  for  man  to  work  up  ?  How  otherwise  are  its 
quantity  and  condition  to  be  accounted  for  ]  The  rest  of 
creation  God  himself  has  elaborated  into  organisms  that 
breathe  and  move,  grow  and  live,  throw  off  their  pro- 
ducts at  stated  periods,  and  perpetuate  their  kind  ;  while 
the  entire  mineral  kingdom  lies  passive  at  man's  feet  await- 
ing his  action  upon  it  :  for  in  it  are  agents  indispensable 
to  his  elevation,  the  very  substances  his  necessities  call 
for;  and  here  is  no  one  else  appointed  to  use  them— no 
one  else  that  can  use  them.  Could  spoken  language  be 
more  explicit  1 

Then  what  is  more  expressive  than  nature's  limited 
elaboration  of  this  matter,  coinciding  so  perfectly  as  it 
does  with  the  design  of  making  man  a  workman  in  it  ] 
She  only  brings  it  up  to  certain  points,  and  then  stops,  be- 
cause at  those  points  his  efforts  were  to  begin.  All  things 
necessary  for  him  and  above  his  capacity  or  powers  to 
produce  were  provided,  but  unwrought  or  partially  wrought 
materials  were  given  him  because  the  ability  to  mould 
them  to  his  wants  and  wishes  was  imparted.  Had  it  been 


THE  EARTH  A  PRESS  OF  VARYING  POWERS.     29 

otherwise,  metals  had  certainly  been  dug  up  in  the  forms 
of  necessary  instruments,  vegetable  fibre  had  grown  in 
hanks  of  thread  and  in  woven  garments,  glass  and  stone- 
ware had  been  quarried,  and  boulders  had  been  cubes 
ready  for  the  builder's  hands ;  while  joists  and  boards  and 
articles  of  furniture  had  been  the  natural  fruit  of  trees. 
All  substances  would  have  been  found  in  the  most  useful 
forms,  if  the  power  to  put  them  into  such  forms  had  not 
been  communicated.  No  fact  is  more  prominent  in  the 
divine  economy  of  the  world  than  that  man  was  to  have 
nothing — absolutely  nothing — done  for  him  that  he  could 
possibly  do  for  himself.  This  was  essential  to  the  deve- 
lopment of  his  character  as  an  artificer.  By  it  exertion 
became  inevitable,  while  the  direction  it  was  to  take  was 
not  to  be  mistaken. 

But  contemplate  the  earth  as  a  whole,  and  it  will  be 
found  a  perfect  contrivance  for  preparing  these  materials. 
Its  spherical  figure  exerts  a  direct  mechanical  influence  on 
them.  In  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  superincumbent 
strata,  their  density  increases  with  their  depth.  If  a  gas 
were  conveyed  down  far  enough  it  would  be  squeezed  into 
a  liquid  :  send  it  lower,  and  it  would  become  heavy  and 
impermeable  as  lead  or  platina.  The  earth  is,  therefore, 
ever  acting  as  a  press  of  varying  powers,  forcing  matter 
into  less  and  less  space,  and  producing  a  series  of  sub- 
stances varying  in  their  properties  and  densities  from  airs 
to  metals. 

Now  the  question  may  and  perhaps  has  occurred  to  the 
reader — If  all  minerals  are  for  man  to  act  on,  and  those 
deemed  the  most  essential,  as  the  metals,  are  located  at 
the  lowest  depths,  how  is  he  to  get  at  them  ?  If  they 


30  NO   INDICATIONS    OF    DECAY. 

were  designed  expressly  for  him,  means  would  Lave  been 
expressly  provided  to  put  him  in  possession  of  them. 
Certainly:  and  so  they  have.  It  was  by  those  means 
that  the  metals  and  other  solid  bodies  now  on  and  near 
the  surface,  were  brought  up.  The  exigence  called  for  a 
device  that  should  raise  materials  through  all  time  to  the 
hands  that  were  to  use  them.  And  what  is  the  device  ? 
A  "  Caloric  Engine"  in  the  centre  of  the  Orb,  the  best  loca- 
tion to  send  up  materials  over  the  whole  surface  :  an  en- 
gine whose  chimneys  and  safety  valves  are  volcanoes,  and 
whose  action  and  diversities  of  action  are  subject  to  laws 
as  definite  as  any  that  control  a  windmill  or  a  water- 
wheel. 

The  continued  energy  of  this  Plutonic  power  is  signi- 
ficant of  much  work  to  be  done,  and  the  more  so  when 
taken  in  connexion  with  the  fact  that  the  stock  of  un- 
wrought  material  has  hardly  been  touched.  As  long  as 
the  motive  wheels  of  a  factory  are  kept  in  high  order 
there  can  be  no  intention  of  stopping  the  works.  People, 
however,  have  always  been  disposed  to  measure  the  life 
and  condition  of  the  world  by  their  own.  There  are  still 
those  Avho  imagine  it  broken  down  with  infirmity  and  age, 
and  every  now  and  then  shaken  with  convulsions  that 
augur  a  speedy  dissolution.  They  see  little  in  lightnings, 
tornadoes,  and  earthquakes,  but  supernatural  contrivances 
addressed  to  human  fears.  They  are,  like  children,  alarm- 
ed at  roaring  furnaces,  flowing  and  spurtings  of  metal,  the 
dust,  smoke,  and  deafening  clamor  of  driving  and  forming 
gearing  in  iron-works. 

Instead  of  a  premonition  of  decay,  the  great  subterrene 
prime  mover  indicates  the  reverse.  Instead  of  a  blind 


UNINTERMITTENT    ACTION.  31 

agent  of  destruction,  it  presents  as  fine  a  proof  of  fore- 
thought and  conservatism  in  the  Divine  Proprietor  as  any- 
thing that  can  be  named.  But  we  are  so  accustomed  to 
view  such  matters  with  reference  only  to  our  individual 
selves  and  to  our  own  times,  that  we  seldom  view  them 
aright.  In  this  case  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  it  was  not 
for  us  and  our  predecessors  alone  that  this  wonderful 
machine  wa,s  contrived  and  put  in  play,  hut  for  supplying 
materials  to  all  that  are  to  come  after  us,  through  periods 
involving  new  arrangements  of  the  earth's  surface — trans- 
position of  its  mountains  and  valleys, continents  and  oceans. 
We  may  think  the  supplies  now  on  and  near  the  surface 
abundant,  and  that  it  may  as  well  cease  working  till  they 
are  consumed ;  but,  in  fact,  its  action  being  continuous 
instead  of  intermittent  is  one  of  its  finest  features,  since 
its  work  is  accomplished  so  gradually  as  to  be  generally 
imperceptible,  and  so  quietly  as  rarely  to  be  heard.  Were 
it  otherwise,  its  action  would  be  violently  impulsive ;  and 
its  displacements  of  matter,  instead  of  being  local,  would 
be  universal,  and  universally  destructive  of  life. 

To  look  on  the  internal  fires  and  forces  of  the  earth,  as 
some  do,  with  dread — to  view  them  as  destructive  agents 
held  in  check  for  a  day  of  wrath — is  intensely  absurd  and 
superstitiously  wicked.  They  were  benevolently  ordain- 
ed to  furnish  man  with  materials  he  could  not  reach,  and 
to  keep  raising  them  to  the  surface  as  the  surface  supplies 
diminish.  To  them  he  will  ever  be  indebted  for  minerals 
essential  to  him.  A  foot  is  a  small  portion  of  a  mile,  yet 
the  deepest  mines,  compared  with  the  distance  to  the  cen- 
tre, hardly  exceed  the  proportion  of  six  inches  to  a  mile  ; 
Low  then  could  he  have  reached  lower  or  even  penetrated 


32  ALTERNATION    OF   STRATA. 

upper  strata  1  We  should  have  heen  ignorant  of  the  me- 
tals, of  our  common  building  materials,  of  lime,  gypsum, 
clay,  sandstone,  marble,  slate,  granite,  and  other  rocks ; 
for  all  these  are  formed  at  immense  depths  below  us.  We 
should  not  have  known  what  the  contents  of  our  world 
were,  or  if  we  had,  we  never  could  have  obtained  them 
but  for  the  Divine  solution  of  this  most  interesting  of  en- 
gineering problems.  Without  it  the  destinies  of  man  and 
his  connexion  with  the  earth  had  been  very  different  from 
what  they  are. 

Proofs  of  intelligence  and  design  in  the  earth's  strata 
thaw  into  admiration  the  most  frigid  of  geologists ;  and  is 
not  this,  the  only  imaginable  plan  by  which  every  kind 
of  matter  stored  below  can  be  brought  up  for  us,  calcu- 
lated to  awaken  as  deep  an  interest !  How  simple,  ef- 
fective, and  suggestive  !  The  nearest  device  that  occurs 
to  us  are  the  steam-engines  in  the  deep  cellars  of  govern- 
ment stores  that  send  up  samples  and  bales  of  goods  as 
merchants  call  for  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ARRANGEMENT   OF   THE   EARTH'S   MATERIALS   IN 
STRATA. 

ONE  of  the  most  characteristic  features  in  the  structure 
of  the  earth  is  the  alternation  of  strata.     It  is  built  of 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRATA.  33 

layers  of  hard  and  soft,  compact  and  loose  materials, 
which  are  thus  kept  from  running  into  each  other  and 
rendering  the  whole  a  disordered  and  confused  mass. 
The  system  is  eminently  methodical  and  mechanical. 
If  it  were  not  that  the  lower  matter  is  located  in  the 
earth,  the  more  compact  and  adhesive,  as  a  general  rule, 
it  becomes,  much  of  it  could  not  have  been  protruded  as 
it  has  been.  It  would  have  crumbled  and  become  mixed 
with,  and  lost  among  the  detached  and  loose  substances 
through  which  its  passage  lay.  A  bed  of  sand  or  clay 
could  not  be  pushed  up  in  an  unbroken  body  through  a 
hundred  or  through  ten  miles  of  miscellaneous  materials, 
unless  a  plate  of  rock  was  interposed  between  it  and  the 
upheaving  force,  and  without  another  above  it  to  keep 
out  other  matters ;  hence  the  geological  formation  of 
alternate  plates  and  of  softer  materials  is  precisely  what 
mechanical  philosophy  and  every  day's  experience  sug- 
gest in  analogous  operations  by  man.  Coal  is  of  too 
friable  a  nature  to  be  thrust  up  except  between  platens 
of  rock.  Lastly,  these  platens  become  dislocated  more 
and  more  as  they  approach  the  surface,  and  thereby  fulfil 
the  remaining  requisite — that  of  opening  the  contained 
beds  to  human  observation  and  research.  If  the  plates 
had  remained  unbroken  their  contents  could  not  have 
been  got  at. 

The  strata  of  the  earth  have  been  classified  in  the  fol- 
lowing comprehensive  orders,  beginning  at  the  upper- 
most and  descending  to  the  lowest : — 

1.  Consisting  chiefly  of  sands  and  clays. 

2.  Comprising    chalk ;     sands    and    clay   beneath    the 
chalk ;  then  calcareous  freestone,  and  argillaceous  beds, 


34  FUNCTIONS    OF    GRANITE. 

new  red  sandstone ;    conglomerate  and  magnesian  lime 
stone. 

3.  Coal    measures;    carboniferous  limestone;   old  red 
sandstone 

4.  Roofing  slate  and  its  cognates. 

5.  Mica  slate  :  gneiss,  granite. 

"  In  all  these  formations  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
we  find  a  repetition  of  rocks  and  beds  of  similar  chemical 
compositions,  i.  e.  siliceous,  argillaceous,  and  calcareous, 
but  with  considerable  difference  in  texture ;  those  in  the 
lowest  formations  being  compact  and  often  crystalline, 
while  those  in  the  highest  and  most  recent  are  loose  and 
earthy."  * 

Surely,  no  engineer  can  glance  over  the  series  without 
perceiving  how  admirably  it  is  made  up  for  the  elevation 
of  portions  of  every  layer  to  the  surface.  Granite  is  the 
lowest.  It  is  the  hardest,  the  strongest,  and  an  unstrati- 
fied  rock,  as  it  ought  to  be,  since,  like  the  piston  of  an 
engine,  it  receives  and  transmits  the  upheaving  power  to 
all  the  rest.  It  breaks  its  way  through  all  that  overlie 
it,  and  bears  up  beds  of  them  all  with  it.  because  of  its 
superior  compactness  and  hardness.  Ware  the  series 
reversed  no  such  effects  could  have  followed.  We  should 
not  have  known  coal  except  from  minute  fragments 
picked  up  by  collectors  of  rare  minerals. 

Then  how  the  character  of  granite  changes  into  gneiss  ! 
This  rock  is  a  species  of  granite,  but  from. an  excess  of 
one  of  the  elements,  mica,  its  texture  becomes  lamellar 
and  slaty.  It  is  weaker  than  granite.  Next,  dropping 

*  Conybeare's  Introduction  to  the  Geology  of  England  and 
Wales. 


TWO    OPPOSING    FORCES.  3t» 

the  feldspar  ingredient,  gneiss  passes  into  mica-slate, 
whose  components  are  mica  and  quartz — a  still  weaker 
compound,  and  one  at  which  the  stratified  series  begins. 

"  Although  the  five  foregoing  comprehensive  classes 
serve  to  exhibit  a  general  view  of  the  great  outlines  of 
modern  geology,  we  no  sooner  begin  to  trace  in  detail  the 
succession  of  mineral  beds,  than  their  numbers  and  varie- 
ties appear  to  be  endless,  and  but  for  some  classification 
would  be  infinitely  perplexing  to  the  student.  By  group- 
ing together  individual  strata  in  a  natural  and  easy 
manner  we  reduce  them  to  a  limited  number  of  series ; 
each  series  comprehending  numerous  individual  strata 
naturally  allied  and  associated  together.  To  explain, 
this  by  an  example.  If  Derbyshire  be  the  country 
under  examination,  the  investigator  will  find  a  series  of 
twenty  or  more  alternations  of  beds  of  coal,  sandstone,  and 
slaty  clay,  repeated  over  and  over ;  and  beneath  these  a 
like  alternation  of  limestone  strata,  with  beds  of  the  rock 
called  toadstone.  Here,  then,  all  the  individual  beds 
resolve  themselves  into  two  comprehensive  series,  the 
upper  containing  coal,  the  lower  limestone  ;  .each  series 
being  characterized  by  the  repetition  of  its  own  peculiar 
members."* 

The  materials  of  the  earth  are,  then,  constantly  under 
the  influence  of  two  opposing  forces  :  one  urging  them 
from  the  centre,  the  other,  their  prodigious  weight  or 
pressure,  crowding  them  towards  it.  Here  several  inte- 
resting reflections  are  evolved,  every  one  of  which,  is  a 
lesson  in  engineering. 

*  Conybeare. 


36  INTERNAL   AND   EXTERNAL   FORCES. 

1.  If  there  were  no  internal  force  to  interfere  with  the 
external  one,  the  volume  of  the  earth  would  grow  less 
and  less  as  consolidation  proceeded.     Contraction  would 
continue  till  the  maximum  solidity  was  attained.     The 
change  from  the  present  dimensions  and  density  of  the 
orb  would  probably  be  as  great  as  if  a  three-inch  ball  of 
clay  or  sandstone  were  compressed  into1  a  half-inch  bullet. 
At  all  events,  the  earth  would  become  a  quiescent,  impe- 
netrable body  :  no  portion  save  what  the  surface  exposed 
could  be  used,  vegetation  would  be  impossible,  and,  as  a 
consequence  of  that,  animal  life  impossible  too.     But  all 
these,  and  other  fatal  results,  are  avoided  by  the  central 
expanding  force  heaving  up  material  in  quantities  sufficient 
to  balance  the  effect  of  the  contracting  one. 

2.  Suppose  the  internal  greater  than  the  external  force, 
then  the  diameter  of  the  earth  would  increase  with  matter 
accumulating  on  the  surface ;  but  here  also  a  compensat- 
ing principle  is  at  work.     Mountains  have  been  pushed 
up,  but  equal  masses  have  settled  down.     Some  lands  are 
rising,   but  then   others  are  descending.     The  ocean   is 
creeping  up  some  shores,  and  at  the  same  time  receding 
from  others.     Thus,  the  two  forces  are  so  adapted  to  each 
other,  and  act  under  such  circumstances,  that  the  earth 
neither  swells  nor  shrinks.     Did  either  effect  take  place, 
it  would  be  destructive  of  stability  and  the  present  consti- 
tution of  things,  and  hence  life  itself  requires  the  conti- 
nuous activity  of  the  earth-quaking  power. 

3.  But  admitting  the  forces  to  be  equal — as  indeed  they 
necessarily  are,  since  the  expanding  one  is  due  to  the 
compressing  one,  the  law  of  action  and  reaction  being  as 
fully  developed  in  them  as  in  anything  else — then,  if  the 


ACTIOiN    OF    THE    TWO    FORCES.  37 

earth  were  composed  of  homogeneous  concentric  strata,  no 
interior  movements  could  take  place,  and  consequently  no 
materials  be  displaced.  The  forces  would  be  in  ecjuilibrio 
like  steam  in  a  close  boiler.  Now,  the  way  in  which 
materials  are  brought  up  is  singular  for  its  simplicity,  and 
the  certainty  of  action  under  any  and  every  contingency. 
That  there  is  an  irregularity  in  the  thickness  of  the  walls 
of  the  earth  is  certain ;  that  is,  unless  there  are  cavities 
and  protuberances  at  the  centre  corresponding  with  eleva- 
tions and  depressions  without,  a  condition  of  things  impos- 
sible, and  all  but  inconceivable  :  hence  there  are  weak 
places  always  in  the  walls,  and  upon  such  places  the  cen- 
tral force  is  expended.  Besides  inequality  of  strength 
arising  from  inequality  of  thickness,  we  know  that  homo- 
geneity of  strata  has  been  broken  by  the  upheaval  of 
lower  through  upper  series  ;  and  we  also  know,  from  the 
moderate  mean  density  of  the  planet,  that  it  is  not  now, 
whatever  it  may  have  been  in  the  early  periods  of  con- 
densation, composed  of  layers  of  uniformly  increasing 
densities.  There  is,  therefore,  an  entire  absence  of  uni- 
formity in  the  strength  of  the  walls ;  and  the  beautiful 
result  is,  that,  while  the  external  force  acts  continuously 
and  uniformly  over  the  whole,  the  internal  one  acts 
locally  and  in  succession  on  the  whole. 

4.  Were  the  performance  of  the  central  force  different 
from  what  it  is,  it  would  be  of  no  benefit  to  man.  Sup- 
pose its  action  could  be  uniform  on  the  whole,  and  just 
sufficient  to  prevent  further  contraction,  like  air  confined 
in  a  bladder,  or  steam  in  a  boiler,  every  thing  would 
then  be  at  rest,  and  no  change  of  material  on  the  surface 
could  take  place.  But  to  originate  and  maintain  internal 


38         ALL  MATTER  TO  BE  MANIPULATED. 

currents  of  matter  upwards  is  its  vital  function.  Without 
this  circulation  and  exchange  of  interior  and  exterior 
substances,  the  earth  might  as  well  have  been  a  shell,  as 
some  suppose  it  is,  since  its  hidden  treasures  would  for 
ever  have  remained  hidden ;  whereas,  by  the  existing 
arrangements,  they  stream  upwards  and  return  as  through 
an  immense  colander.  As  near  as  can  be,  the  movements 
resemble  those  of  fluids.  In  a  globe  of  water  a  current, 
the  minutest  and  slowest,  would  keep  varying  the  local 
positions  of  the  particles,  and  causing  those  within  and 
without  to  change  places.  In  a  ball  of  sand  the  same 
thing  would  occur  if  a  central  force  started  the  move- 
ments. The  earth  is  such  a  ball :  its  central  force  induces 
and  maintains  the  currents,  though  they  move  at  so  slow 
a  rate  as  to  be  almost  irreconcilable  with  our  accustomed 
ideas  of  fluid  motion. 

5.  The  material  is  sent  up  with  the  least  disturbance, 
and  the  general  arrangement  by  which  this  is  accomplished 
is  beautiful : — Thus,  while  the  compressing  force  increases 
in  intensity  as  it  descends,  because  it  keeps  forcing  the 
materials  into  less  and  less  space,  the  expanding  one 
diminishes  as  it  ascends,  from  becoming  diffused  into  ever 
widening  areas. 

In  this  admirable  way,  then,  is  all  matter  brought  under 
human  influence,  and  made  to  contribute  to  human  enjoy- 
ment. 

'  All  matter  ?'  Yes !  I  do  not  think  it  is  too  much 
to  assert  that  the  whole  was  destined  to  pass,  and  that 
repeatedly,  through  human  hands,  preposterous  as  the 
thought  may  seem.  God  has  made  coal  and  ores  for  man 
to  use — not  to  conceal  them  uselessly.  If  an  approximate 


THE    EARTH    NOT    A    SHELL.  39 

estimate  could  be  made  of  what  has  been  acted  on  from 
the  beginning,  or  if  even  the  amount  now  annually  dis- 
placed, or  otherwise  made  use  of,  could  be  ascertained, 
the  idea  of  a  scarcity  rather  than  a  surplus  would  be  sug- 
gested ;  and,  especially  in  view  of  a  prolonged  future, 
when  the  planet  will,  in  all  probability,  be  occupied  by  a 
dense  working  population,  the  arts  and  sciences  universally 
extended,  and  inorganic  motive  agents  abounding  beyond 
our  present  conceptions.  So  far  from  an  excess,  a  defi- 
ciency would  inevitably  occur,  were  it  not  for  the  continual 
recomposition  of  decomposed  bodies — a  principle  that 
prevents  the  establishments  from  being  closed  for  want  of 
fresh  stock  to  work  up.  There  is  no  reason  whatever  to 
infer  that  the  fertility  of  a  surface  layer  can  be  indefinite 
in  duration — that  it  can  continue  beyond  certain  periods 
to  support  vegetable  or  animal  life.  To  recover  or  main- 
tain its  virtue,  the  material  must  descend  into  the  alembic 
again.  Like  broken  utensils  and  scrap  metal,  they  must 
be  recast ;  for  the  heat  of  the  central  furnace  is  as  neces- 
sary to  prepare  materials  for  man  as  to  furnish  the  power 
that  pushes  them  up  to  him. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SHELL  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH  UNMECHANICAL. 

THE  hypothesis  that  makes  the  earth  a  hollow  shell — 
a  thin  one,  too,  for  the  thickness  has  been  estimated  as 


40  THE    EARTH    NOT    A    SHELL. 

low  as  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  which  compared  to  the  diame- 
ter is  little  thicker  in  proportion  than  the  shell  of  the 
domestic  fowl's  egg — is  not  only  a  startling  one,  but  it 
certainly  conflicts  with  mechanical  laws.  Unless  the 
shell  was  composed  of  perfectly  homogeneous^  matter, 
uniform  in  thickness  and  truly  spherical,  it  could  not 
retain  its  figure  ;  because  the  effects  of  condensation  from 
the  pressure  of  its  materials  would  be  unequal.  If  it 
were  even  of  iron  it  would  be  crushed  in,  and  more 
promptly  than  an  irregular  formed  exhausted  glass  re- 
ceiver. But  the  earth  is  known  to  be  made  up  of  any- 
thing but  homogeneous  materials ;  so  far  as  observed,  it 
consists,  and  down  to  low  strata,  of  miscellaneous  sub- 
stances of  exceedingly  varied  densities ;  of  sand,  gravel, 
ores,  rocks,  coal,  clay,  &c. :  the  whole  forming  a  mass  of 
material  most  unfit  for  a  permanent  arch  or  dome,  most 
inadequate  to  resist  uniform  external  pressure,  and  the 
less  so  when  subject  to  be  shaken  and  ruptured  by  earth- 
quakes, and  to  wide  displacements  of  matter.  It  may, 
we  think,  be  assumed  as  an  utter  impossibility  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  hollow. 

The  idea  that  it  is  so  is,  of  course,  purely  speculative. 
The  whole  globe  is  supposed  to  have  been  long  in  a  state 
of  ignition — an  orb  of  molten  matter,  the  cooling  of 
which  first  at  the  surface  caused  that  portion  to  solidify. 
The  fluid  within  continued  to  congeal  and  thicken  the 
walls,  but  shrank  at  length  from  them,  and  left  a  hollow 
space  between  the  shell  and  itself;  somewhat  as  if  the 
yolk  of  an  egg  were  to  remain  in  its  place  after  the  white 
had  been  withdrawn.  Besides  other  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  this  hypothesis,  the  origin  of  the  fire  is  one,  and 


THE  CENTRAL  HEAT  DUE  TO  COMPRESSION.    4 1 

its  beginning  to  cool  looks  like  another.  "Why,  after 
being  once  ignited,  did  not  the  matter  continue  to  burn 
till  consumed,  or  till  the  elements  of  heat  were  dissipated  1 
What  was  there  to  hinder  ?  If,  as  is  said,  caloric  is  now 
slowly  leaving  the  earth,  it  would  seem  then  to  have  had 
an  opportunity  to  desert  it  altogether. 

The  hypothesis  that  originates  worlds  in  whirling  balls 
of  fire,  we  think  can  hardly  be  surpassed  in  wildness. 

It  seems  more  philosophical,  because  consistent  with 
known  facts,  to  suppose  the  central  heat  the  result  of  the 
earth's  contraction — that  it  was  slowly  squeezed  out  of 
matter  and  driven  to  the  centre  by  the  pressure  of  the 
encompassing  and  superincumbent  mass — just  as  we 
squeeze  it  out  of  air  by  a  syringe,  out  of  cold  iron  by 
hammering  its  particles  closer  together,  or  out  of  any 
substance  whatever  by  compressing  it.  The  elementary 
matter  of  the  earth,  it  is  not  doubted,  once  formed  a 
gaseous  sphere  whose  radius  extended  beyond  the  moon, 
and  which  by  condensation  became  reduced  to  its  present 
dimensions.  The  caloric  diffused  through  the  immense 
orb  has  been  slowly  crowded  in  and  become  concentrated 
at  the  centre,  whence  it  would  again  rush  through  the 
whole,  if  the  whole  were  dilated  as  at  first  to  make  room 
for  it.  In  this  view  the  presence  and  the  accumulation 
of  heat  at  the  centre  of  the  earth  are  accounted  for.  It 
was,  we  suppose,  developed,  and  is  sustained  by  mechani- 
cal pressure,  and  to  that,  chemical  and  galvanic  influences 
may  contribute.  There  are  also  sources  of  heat  in  the 
inflammable  metallic  bases  of  earths  and  alkalies,  and 
doubtless  in  many  other  matters  at  present  unknown,  but 
which  science  will  eventually  reveal. 


42  THE    CENTRAL    HEAT    NOT    DISSIPATED. 

Every  planet,  then,  has  its  appropriate  quantity  of 
internal  heat  inherent  in  its  materials,  and  must  retain 
it  while  possessing  them,  though  its  manifestations  may 
greatly  vary.  Some  philosophers  do  not  believe  this. 
They  think  the  earth's  central  fires  are  burning  out,  and 
that  in  time  the  temperature  here  will  be  too  low  to  sus- 
tain life ;  but  this  is  reasoning  on  God's  furnaces  from 
our  own.  True,  the  central  heat  radiates  in  the  walls 
that  inclose  it,  but,  unlike  ours,  they  are  too  thick  for  it 
to  pass  through.  It  is  questionable  whether  any  reaches 
the  surface  except  through  volcanoes  and  mines,  while 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  sun  supplies  all,  or  more 
than  all,  that  radiates  from  the  surface  and  becomes,  if 
any  becomes,  dissipated  in  space.*  It  is  the  great  exter- 
nal heater  of  our  planet,  and  the  supporter  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life,  while  the  function  of  the  other  is  with 
inorganized  matter.  Great  as  the  heat  at  the  centre  is, 
it  is  insensible  at  the  surface,  because  the  solar  rays  pene- 
trate to  a  depth  to  which  it  does  not  seem  to  rise.  As 
an  inseparable  and  indestructible  element  of  matter,  the 
same  quantity  of  heat  or  material  of  heat  must  continue, 
although  it  may  not  always  be  equally  excited,  or  be  in 


*  Suppose  matter  does  escape  from  the  surfaces  of  all  the  planets 
and  in  greater  proportion  from  the  sun,  may  they  not  all  take  up 
just  as  much  as  they  lose,  from  the  medium  through  which  they 
are  floating;  for  it  now  seems  to  be  admitted  that  the  regions 
of  space  are  filled  with  a  fluid  whose  density  is  sufficient  to  affect 
the  motions  of  comets,  if  not  those  of  other  bodies?  In  this  way 
space  performs  for  all  orbs  the  part  which  the  atmosphere  performs 
for  ours — imperceptibly  receiving  and  restoring  the  matter  of  which 
they  are  made. 


TEMPERATURE    OF    THE    OUTER    PLANETS.  43 

the  same  circumstances  for  excitement ;  more  or  less  may 
become  latent  by  diffusion — more  or  less  manifest  by  con- 
centration. 

It  is  singular  how  writers  differ.  There  are  those  who 
suppose  the  earth's  temperature  actually  rising,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  sun's  heat  being  transmitted  entirely 
through  it  by  the  conducting  power  of  the  ground.  The 
accumulation  of  thin  waves  of  heat  moving  inwards'every 
summer  resulted,  it  is  said,  in  igneous  liquefaction  at  the 
centre;  and  is  eventually  to  result  in  the  melting  of  the 
elements  and  in  the  earth's  passing  away  as  a  scroll. 
Thus,  between  the  two  theories,  it  is  either  to  become  a 
dead  and  frozen  body  or  be  heated  into  gas,  and  that  gas 
dissipated  in  flame.  Then  there  are  others  who  shiver 
when  contemplating  the  outer  planets,  because  of  their 
being  located  so  far  from  the  sun  ;  and  yet  the  average 
surface  temperatures  of  those  orbs  may,  for  aught  we  can 
see,  be  quite  as  high  and  even  higher  than  that  of  the 
earth.  Jupiter  is  over  1300  times  larger,  and  the  heat 
developed  by  the  compression  of  such  an  immense  volume 
of  matter  may  more  than  compensate  for  its  being  five 
times  the  earth's  distance  from  the  sun.  While  solar 
heat  preponderates  on  the  surface  of  some,  internal  heat 
may  surpass  it  in  others. 

The  disposition  to  anticipate  evil  in  the  earth  and  in 
the  heavens  is  a  relic  of  the  ages  of  horoscopes  and 
omens  :  and  so  is  that  which  lingers  over  an  early  wind- 
ing up  of  the  affairs  of  the  earth,  as  that  of  an  establish- 
ment no  longer  profitable  ;  its  occupants  to  be  killed  off 
by  freezing  or  by  fire,  its  roof  and  walls  torn  down  and 
dispersed,  and  its  elements  used  for  building  up  a  better 


44  THE    EARTHQUAKING    POWER 

one.  Can  a  better  one -be  made?  Infinite  wisdom  may 
produce  a  different  one,  but  not  one  more  perfectly  suited 
in  every  imaginable  respect  to  us.  It  might  be  occupied 
by  better  tenants,  but  then  there  is  no  limit  to  our  im- 
provement if  we  choose  to  pursue  it :  and  our  species  will 
improve.  Men  will  advance  spiritually  as  science  and 
arts  advance. 

The  power  that  produces  earthquakes,  then,  so  far 
from  being  a  destructive,  is  eminently  a  conservative  one. 
The  stability  of  the  earth  depends  on  it ;  and  it  is  as 
essential  to  the  life  of  the  world  as  the  heart  is  to  an  ani- 
mal. Neither  has  it  been  more  fatal  to  human  life  than 
some  of  the  arts.  Who  would  decry  mills  because  men 
have  been  drowned  in  dams,  or  gas-lights  because  they 
have  set  houses  on  fire,  or  foundries  because  workmen 
have  been  scalded  by  molten  metal  !  Who  would  give 
up  navigation  by  wind  or  steam  because  of  storms  !  or 
travelling  on  railroads  because  cars  have  run  off  the 
tracks  !  No  one.  Neither  do  people  quit  the  sites  of  cities 
or  other  places  shaken  by  earthquakes.  In  time  the  phe- 
nomena will  be  better  understood,  will  be  accompanied 
with  less  loss  of  life.  Premonitions  of  their  coming,  now 
misapprehended  or  unperceived,  will  then  be  construed 
aright  and  acted  on. 

Earthquakes  have  not  been  investigated  with  the  care 
their  importance  demands.  Their  purpose,  or  the  motive 
of  the  builder  of  the  earth  in  establishing  by  means  of 
them  a  constant  exchange  of  internal  for  external  mat- 
ter, has  yet  to  be  taken  up  and  philosophically  considered. 
Sometimes  locally  calamitous,  and  at  all  times  fearful 
from  the  magnitudes  of  their  movements,  and  the  utter 


A    CALORIC    EXGINE.  45 

helplessness  of  mau  to  control  or  prevent  them,  they  are 
anticipated  with  disquietude  and  witnessed  with  affright. 
This  is  just  the  conduct  of  those  nervous  persons  who 
only  contemplate  steam  in  its  explosion  of  boilers,  clos- 
ing their  eyes  to  the  benefits  it  confers  on  society.  Earth- 
quakes are  the  workings  of  an  igneous  engine  that  is  in- 
finitely more  advantageous  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole 
earth  than  is  steam  to  people  who  use  it. 

As  a  caloric  engine  simply,  the  earth's  central  force  is 
interesting,  and  as  the  most  compact  and  powerful  one 
still  more  so.  Planned  and  executed  by  the  Great  En- 
gineer, it  carries  out  his  ideas  of  the  best  mode  of  dis- 
placing large  masses  of  matter  here ;  it  therefore  is  a 
standing  lesson  to  us  on  one  of  the  most  laborious  and 
enduring  departments  of  art.  It  is  calculated  and  in- 
tended to  initiate  and  instruct  us  in  similar  applications 
of  the  expansive  force  of  fire ;  it  suggests  artificial  vol- 
canoes, which  have  accordingly  been  adopted  by  civil 
and  military  sappers  and  miners.  The  principle  has  been 
but  partially  employed  hitherto.  We  believe  it  is  des- 
tined to  greatly  more  varied  and  extended  uses.  The 
simplicity  of  the  regulation  of  the  central  engine  has 
been  adverted  to.  Were  the  power  confined,  like  gun- 
powder in  a  shell,  it  would  burst  the  world  asunder ;  but 
by  the  absence  of  uniformity  in  the  strength  of  the  walls 
that  encircle  it,  its  perfectly  harmonious  and  perpetual 
working  is  secured.  The  rending  of  the  shell  is  impos- 
sible. 

The  earth's  material,  besides  passing  through  or  towards 
the  glowing  centre,  circulates  also  through  another  and 
widely  different  receptacle.  Into  the  atmosphere  the 


46       THE  FACTORY  COMPLETED  IN  PARTS. 

constituent  gases  of  all  matter  are  received.  It  is  the 
great  dissolver  of  all.  There  is  not  an  atom  in  our  bodies, 
nor  has  there  been  one  in  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  but 
what  came  from  it ;  not  one  on  the  earth  or  under  it  but 
what  has  been  in  it.  Towards  one  or  the  other  of  these 
laboratories  all  matter  is  progressing,  and  changing  as  it 
progresses,  being  urged  on  by  the  two  great  forces  already 
named. 

These  laboratories,  and  the  forces  urging  the  contents 
of  the  orb  through  them,  constitute  one  of  the  earth's 
chief  working  features  as  a  whole — and  a  most  interest- 
ing one  in  a  mechanical  aspect  it  is. 

But  there  is  a  feature  in  the  factory  not  yet  noticed,  by 
which  the  debut  of  man  was  hastened,  and  one  which 
everywhere  had  a  direct,  and  will  everywhere  have  a 
lasting  bearing  on  both  workmen  and  the  work.  It  is 
this  : — 

The  earth,  was  not  matured  throughout  at  once,  but 
only  in  parts,  and  as  each  became  ready  for  man,  he 
made  his  appearance  on  it.  Its  great  sections  are  now  in 
diverse  stages  of  development.  No  two  are  of  the  same 
date.  In  recent  as  in  remote  ages  the  highlands  were  oc- 
cupied before  the  basins  were  well  drained.  This  is 
exemplified  as  much  in  the  new  as  in  the  old  world.  The 
regions  of  the  Andes  have  long  been  peopled,  while  the 
valleys  of  the  Amazon,  Oronoco,  Parana,  and  other 
streams,  are  in  the  almost  undisturbed  possession  of  the 
lower  tribes.  Indeed,  at  this  hour,  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  earth  is  unsubdued — another  proof  that  we 
belong  to  an  early  period  of  its  history. 

Thus  it  appears  to  have  been  a  distinct  trait  in  the 


FIRE    INDLSPENSAHLE    TO    THE    FACTORY.  47 

Divine  plan  that  the  factory  should  not  be  equally  and 
uniformly  matured.  The  advantages  of  this  were  great : 
Man  was  sooner  introduced  than  otherwise  he  could  have 
been  ;  while  growing  up  on  one  part,  another  was  pre- 
paring for  him.  His  materials  and  agencies  were  vastly 
multiplied  ;  instead  of  having  no  animals  and  plants  ex- 
cept such  as  belonged  to  his  own  epoch,  he  had  around 
him  representatives  of  all  that  had  flourished  from  the 
beginning.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  his  own  spe- 
cies, for  at  present  there  are  as  many  varieties  of  men  as 
have  probably  existed  since  the  first  settlement  of  the 
planet.  Another  advantage  was,  that  the  occupants  of 
one  part  were  made  mutually  dependent  on  and  bene- 
ficial to  those  of  others.  In  a  manufacturing  point  of 
view  the  plan  commends  itself  as  the  most  economical  and 
productive  in  every  conceivable  respect. 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

FIRE  INDISPENSABLE  TO  THE  FACTORY,  AND  TO  MAN  AS  A 
COSMOPOLITE. 

BEFORE  man  could  attempt  earthen  or  metallic  wares, 
he  lacked  another  element ;  one  neither  visible  nor  pal- 
pable. He  might  knead  clay  into  forms,  but  if  he  stopped 
there,  they  would  remain  clay.  To  succeed,  he  must, 
like  Prometheus,  animate  them  with  the  life  and  soul  of 
the  arts.  It  is  fire  that  enables  us  to  open  the  teeming 


48  FIRE    WITHHELD    FROM    ANIMALS. 

earth  and  to  use  its  treasures.  Without  it  the  artist  and 
the  artist's  hammer,  and  all  that  they  have  done,  had 
never  heen.  The  factory  could  not  itself  have  been 
tenantable ;  and  if  it  had,  no  work  could  have  been  done 
in  it.  Essential  to  man  as  a  cosmopolite,  his  earthly  pre- 
eminence rests  on  the  exclusive  use  of  fire.  Withholding 
it  from  brutes  was  essential  to  his  rule  over  them.  Did 
they  possess  the  power  to  elicit  it,  enraged  by  his  tyranny 
they  would  set  and  keep  the  world  in  flames.  His  supe- 
riority would  wane,  and  his  tenure  on  earth  be  uncertain 
and  insecure.  To  prevent  this,  special  provision  has 
been  made.  Animals  fly  from  fire — a  dread  of  it  is,  im- 
planted in  their  natures.  Those  that  prey  in  the  night 
are  impelled  by  a  law  of  their  organization  to  avoid  it ; 
for  when  dazzled  by  the  blaze  of  a  torch,  the  contraction 
of  their  pupils  amounts  in  some  species  to  blindness,  and 
in  all  the  sight  is  affected.  Hence,  though  many  of  the 
lower  tribes  surpass  man  in  physical  energies,  speed, 
flight,  duration  of  life,  minuteness  and  magnitude  of 
their  works,  happily  none  can  strike  fire,  nor  fan  it  into 
flame. 

Still,  lights  in  the  night  were  not  withheld  wholly  from 
the  lower  tribes.  For  those  that  required  them,  a  spe- 
cial illuminating  element  was  provided.  There  are  some 
that  surpass  in  numbers  the  human  species,  of  which 
every  individual  carries  a  torch  that  rivals  in  brilliance 
the  best  of  our  candles,  the  materials  for  which  they  have 
the  power  to  secrete.  Glow-worms  and  fire-flies  are  fa- 
miliar examples.  In  tropical  climes,  various  luminous 
insects  are  attached  to  female  head-dresses.  They  are 
used  also  as  lamps.  I  have  read  fine  print  in  a  dark 


DEVICES    FOR    OBTAINING    FIRE.  49 

room  by  the  light  of  two  small  Long  Island  fire-flies  in  a 
tumbler.  But  man  was  not  the  first  to  rob  these  living 
gems  of  their  liberty  and  radiance.  There  are  birds  that 
seize  and  suspend  them  as  chandeliers  for  their  dwellings. 
The  bottle-nested  sparrow,  or  baya,  is  one  of  the  kidnap- 
pers. Its  nest  is  closely  woven  like  cloth  in  the  figure  of 
a  large  inverted  bottle,  with  the  entrance  at  the  orifice  of 
the  neck.  The  interior  is  divided  by  partitions  into  two 
or  three  chambers,  one  over  the  other.  These  are  pro- 
foundly dark  until  lit  up  with  fire-flies  caught  alive,  and 
mercilessly  fixed  to  the  walls  or  ceiling  with  pieces  of 
wet  clay  or  cowdung  for  sconces. 

How  was  fire  first  obtained  ?  Does  the  reader  know  ? 
If  not,  if  he  have  never  reflected  on  the  subject,  let  him 
now  reflect.  The  operation  and  materials  must  of  course 
be  suited  to  man's  condition  in  the  earliest  days  of  his 
apprenticeship,  since  neither  the  metals  nor  any  thing  like 
tools  were  in  use  :  applicable,  too,  to  all  lands  since  untu- 
tored man  first  occupied  them  all.  Suppose  the  reader 
were  thrown  ashore  on  an  uninhabited  island,  without 
flint  or  steel,  match  or  tinder,  or  any  artificial  substitute, 
how  would  he  act  ?  Unless  he  knew  what  the  primeval 
device  was,  he  might  perish,  as  many  have  perished,  for 
lack  of  the  information. 

The  process  was  by  friction,  and  the  only  instruments 
employed,  two  small  pieces  of  wood.  By  twirling  the 
point  of  a  dry  stick  in  a  rude  indentation  made  in  ano- 
ther, or  by  rubbing  it  to  and  fro  in  a  groove,  sparks  were 
evolved  and  flame  obtained  :  an  apparatus  so  simple  that 
Indian  boys  and  girls  have  been  observed  to  prepare  it 
by  breaking  suitable  pieces  from  a  branch  and  gnawing 

3 


50  FIRE    BY    FRICTION. 

the  pointed  one  into  shape.  Such,  from  the  beginning, 
has  served  the  wild  man  for  a  tinder-box  ;  and  thus, 
wherever  fuel  was,  he  had  the  means  of  kindling  it. 
Viewed  in  any  light,  this  was  a  remarkable  invention. 
The  blessings  it  immediately  secured  and  those  it  has 
given  rise  to,  mark  it  as  the  most  memorable  of  pristine 
discoveries. 

Who  the  first  inventor  of  the  device  was,  history  has 
not  informed  us.  The  author  of  the  Pentateuch  takes  no 
notice  of  it,  though  he  mentions  inchoate  discoveries  of 
less  moment.  One  might  have  expected  that  in  treating 
of  man's  origin  and  early  progress,  he  would  not  have 
overlooked  an  art  or  device  with  which  human  enter- 
prise began,  and  the  introduction  of  which  opened  the 
leading  act  in  life's  drama.  Ancient  nations  almost  inva- 
riably ascribed  it  to  their  founders  or  patron  deities : 
hence  its  incorporation  in  traditions,  histories,  and  legends. 
The  description,  in  one  of  Homer's  hymns,  of  Mercury 
kindling  a  fire  to  roast  cattle  he  had  stolen,  is  literally 
that  of  a  Camanche  or  Apache  after  a  buffalo  hunt,  or  a 
foray  into  New  Mexico. 

'And  gathering  fuel,  the  inventor  rare 
To  fashion  fire  did  his  wits  renew. 
Hermes  first  taught  how  sparks  could  catch. 
T'was  he  invented  tinder  and  match ; 
For  where  the  hard  branches  grew 
He  snatch'd  a  branch  and  stripp'd  the  bark, 
Rubbed  piece  'gainst  piece,  till  spark  by  eoark 
Was  kindled,  and  the  flame  upflew."  * 

The  hint  that  led  to  the  process,  according  to  an  old 
*  Translation  in  Blactwood. 


ORIGIN    OP    FIRE    BY    FRICTION.  51 

tradition,  was  the  ignition  of  trees  by  collision  during  a 
high  wind.  The  story  was  preserved  by  Sanconiatho, 
and  adopted  by  both  Grecian  and  Roman  writers.  It  is 
ingenious,  but  unsatisfactory.  Forests  may  occasionally 
be  fired  by  lightning ;  seldom  or  never,  we  believe,  by 
friction  alone.  But  leaving  the  question,  which  would 
divert  us  too  far  from  the  track  of  this  Essay,  it  is  worthy 
of  observation  that  all  primitive  people,  no  matter  how 
distantly  located  or  how  isolated,  have  kindled  their  fires 
by  friction.  In  the  eastern  hemisphere,  it  dates  from  the 
first  age  or  ages,  and  was  universal.  In  fact,  it  was  the 
device  by  which  the  Patriarchs  and  their  immediate 
descendants  obtained  fire  ;  and  when  these  continents 
were  discovered,  it  was  found  in  possession  of  the  natives 
from  the  Esquimaux  to  the  people  of  Terra  del  Fuego, 
from  those  who  hunted  on  the  borders  of  the  Atlantic  to 
the  tribes  that  dwelt  on  the  Pacific  shores.  It  was  as 
familiar  to  the  half-civilized  occupiers  of  Chili,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  and  Peru,  as  were  vessels  to  hold  water. 
In  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic,  Pacific,  and  Indian  Oceans, 
and  through  the  regions  of  Australia,  it  was  equally 
known. 

Is  it  to  be  inferred  that  all  these  people  derived  the 
art  from  observing  trees  kindled  by  friction  in  a  storm,  or 
from  a  primeval  source,  when  mankind  is  supposed  to 
have  been  one  family  ?  We  should  say  from  neither, 
but  that,  like  the  bow,  axe,  lever,  and  canoe,  it  was  an 
instinctive  suggestion,  and  hence  its  universality. 

It  has  been  too  much  the  custom  to  consider  the 
simplest  arts  as  having  had  one  date  and  place  of  birth, 
whereas  they  certainly  have  been  independently  dis- 


52  THE    DOMESTIC    HEARTH. 

closed  at  different  times  and  in  distant  lands.  So  far 
from  being  exclusively  due  to  a  few  sagacious  men  of 
old,  they  are  the  natural  and  necessary  results  of  human 
organization.  Man,  as  well  as  the  lower  tribes,  has 
natural  arts  belonging  to  his  species. 

Once  introduced  into  the  hut,  fire  came  under  the 
management  of  females,  and  wrought  a  revolution  in 
previous  habits.  Food  was  no  longer  consumed  without 
cooking  ;  roots  as  well  as  flesh  were  roasted ;  subse- 
quently, victuals  were  boiled,  and  the  phenomena  of 
ebullition,  hot  water,  and  steam  observed.  Culinary 
utensils  were  devised  ;  rude  seats,  tables,  and  beds  made 
their  appearance.  Natural  vessels  were  superseded  by 
artificial  ones  ;  earthenware  caldrons  succeeded  those 
formed  of  skins,  of  the  calabash,  and  joints  of  bamboo. 
Spinning,  weaving,  and  knitting  stepped  in  ;  and  the  com- 
forts of  a  permanent  habitation  put  an  end  to  the  miseries 
of  roving  the  forests  without  dwellings  or  dress.  Before 
these  things  were  accomplished,  man  could  have  had  but 
faint  views  of  his  destiny,  none  of  the  glory  that  awaited 
his  posterity. 

It  may  truly  be  said,  that  the  phoenix  of  the  arts  arose 
from  the  ashes  of  the  domestic  hearth,  and  that  from  it 
the  first  rays  of  science  shot  forth.  Then  who  can  re- 
flect, without  admiration,  on  the  numerous  sources  of 
artificial  light,  by  which  social  communion,  and  the  great 
work  of  domestic  and  professional  fabrication,  is  con- 
tinued after  the  going  down  of  the  sun  !  To  the  vege- 
table oils,  resins,  tallows,  sperm,  lard,  &c.,  we  are  indebted 
for  the  multiplied  myriads  of  tapers  that  are  kindled  every 
evening,  and  around  which  social  parties  are  everywhere 


ARTIFICIAL    LIGHT  53 

employed,  and  cheerfully  employed,  in  modelling  and 
adorning  rude  matter.  In  warm  climates,  the  candle  or 
lamp  is  as  indispensable  as  the  stove  or  grate  in  cold 
ones  ;  and,  in  all  lands,  what  would  the  condition  of  the 
sick  and  dying  be,  were  it  not  for  light  to  assist  them  in 
midnight  hours  !  A  condition  so  distressing,  that  imagina- 
tion cannot  exaggerate  it !  Humanity  cannot  be  repre- 
sented in  a  lower  depth  of  degradation,  than  when  pictured 
without  the  tinder-box  or  its  congeners. 

Fire  gives  us  what  Eden  had  not.  If  a  flaming  sword 
drove  one  man  out,  the  knowledge  of  flame  has  put 
within  the  reach  of  all  men  blessings  unknown  there. 

The  adaptations  of  things  in  the  matter  of  fire,  with  a 
view  to  keep  it  in  human  hands,  small  as  they  seem,  have 
a  bearing  on  the  general  economy  of  the  world.  The 
conditions  necessary  to  the  evolution  of  a  spark  by  fric- 
tion, and  to  nourish  it  into  flame,  are  such,  we  all  per- 
ceive, as  serve  to  prevent  any  serious  results  from  natural 
abrasions.  Had  the  necessary  amount  or  intensity  of 
friction  been  double  what  it  is,  man  had  made  little  use 
of  fire  to  this  day.  We  do  not  see  how,  in  the  first  ages, 
he  could  have  procured  it  at  all,  nor  yet  in  subsequent 
days  unless  an  advance  in  the  arts  supplied  him  with  bet- 
ter means.  Yet,  how  the  arts  could  exist,  much  less  be 
advanced,  without  fire,  it  would  be  hard  to  tell.  At  all 
events,  sparks  could  not  have  been  drawn  out  of  wood 
by  individual  exertion  without  mechanism,  and  what 
mechanism  did  the  pure  savage  possess,  or  could  he, 
without  fire,  possess  ? 

Had  the  requisite  amount  of  friction  been  less  than  it 
is,  we  might  have  scarcely  known  wood  as  a  fuel  or  in 


54         NATURAL    ABRASION    DOES    NOT    KINDLE    FIRE. 

the  arts,  since  Nature  might  then  have  acted  the  part  of 
an  incendiary,  and  fired  it  as  fast  as  it  grew.  And  why, 
it  may  be  asked,  do  not  gales  of  wind  now  produce  con- 
flagration ?  Because  the  required  rapidity  and  intensity 
of  friction  at  one  point  are  not  continued  there,  till  hot, 
abraded  dust  is  sufficiently  collected  to  receive  the  spark. 
The  verge  of  danger  is  approached  nearer  in  hot  than  in 
cold  climates ;  and  yet  we  find  that  where  vegetation  is 
parched  like  stubble,  the  air  glowing  as  in  an  oven,  resins 
oozing  out  of  some  trees,  and  heat  and  inflammability 
impressed  on  all,  the  violent  collision  of  trees  with  trees 
and  stems  with  stems,  inflames  neither  the  reed  swamps 
of  India,  the  corn  brakes  of  America,  the  pitch  pines  of 
the  North,  nor  the  unctuous  boles  of  equinoctial  regions  : 
— so  admirable  and  nice  are  the  adjustments  that  prevent, 
in  such  cases,  ignition. 

If  it  were  not  for  these,  the  world  would  be  in  constant 
danger  :  the  larger  animals  would  leave  tracks  of  smoke 
and  ashes  behind  them  ;  the  tread  of  an  elephant  or  buffa- 
lo's foot  on  dry  reeds  and  grass,  or  the  rushing  of  their 
bodies  through  jungles,  would  fire  them.  Were  the 
amount  of  friction  required  to  produce  fire  less  than  it  is, 
excessive  care  would  be  indispensable  in  thrashing  and 
stacking  grain,  carting  timber,  and  even  in  working  it. 
The  mere  opening  of  a  set  of  drawers  might  endanger  a 
bureau,  while  a  straining  ship  would  wrest  a  spirit  out  of 
her  groaning  frame  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  element 
she  tossed  on.  Indeed,  as  things  are,  the  line  between 
artificial  attrition  that  produces  fire  and  natural  attrition 
that  does  not,  is  so  fine  as  to  excite  wonder  that  a  barrier 
so  frail  should  be  so  powerful  in  preventing  conflagrations. 


FIRE    FROM    PERCUSSION.  55 

But  the  adaptations  and  adjustments  of  every  thing  in 
this  wonderful  workshop  to  the  work,  are  everywhere, 
and  abound  where  least  suspected.  What  a  volume  will 
some  Humboldt  of  the  arts  one  day  write  on  them ! 

Means  to  produce  fire  were  not  to  be  confined  to 
laborious  attrition  of  wood.  As  all  arts  were  to  advance, 
so  this  also,  meagre  as  it  might  be  supposed  in  variety  of 
resource.  Tinder  was  early  kindled  by  sparks  struck  out 
of  certain  stones,  which,  however,  were  not  universally 
used,  because  not  everywhere  found.  Neoptolemus  ob- 
served in  the  cave  of  Philoctetes  a.  few  rags,  a  rough 
drinking  vessel,  and  some  flints.  This  ancient  Crusoe,  in 
reciting  his  miseries,  says  he  had  had  no  fire  ;  "  but  rubbing 
flint  on  flint,  hardly  did  I  elicit  the  hidden  light !"  * 

Flints  contain  sulphur,  detected  by  the  odor  when  two 
are  struck  together.  Sparks  are  given  out  by  quartz, 
also  by  the  cane  or  Indian  reed  when  struck,  probably 
from  the  silex  they  secrete. 

Hearne,  in  journeying  to  the  Northern  Ocean  in  1772, 
discovered  a  solitary  female  of  the  Dog-ribbed  Indians, 
who  had  been  seven  months  in  the  forests  without  seeing 
a  human  being.  To  support  herself  she  had  built  a  hut, 
and  with  much  ingenuity  snared  rabbits  and  partridges, 
&c.  To  procure  fire  she  picked  up  two  sulphurous  stones, 
from  which,  by  long  friction  and  hard  knockings,  she 
drew  sparks,  and  used  touchwood  for  tinder.  Though 
acquainted,  as  she  must  have  been,  with  the  process  of 
obtaining  fire  from  wood,  she  probably  found  herself  for 
want  of  practice  unable  successfully  to  perform  it. 

Botturini  says  the  ancient  Mexicans  occasionally  drew 

*  Tragedies  of  Sophocles,  literally  translated. 


56  THE   TLVDBR-EOX. 

fire  from  flints ;  they  are  not  known  to  have  Lad  iron,  but 
they  had  iron  stone,  which  they  used  for  the  purpose. 
The  Patagonians  pursued  the  fcame  process.  Samiento, 
in  1580,  met  with  Indians  in  the  Straits  of  Magalhaen* 
who  struck  fire  with  flint  and  a  piece  of  metallic  earth. 
They  used  feathers  for  tinder.  The  Arctic  Indians  have 
two  ways  of  obtaining  light,  "  one  by  rubbing  two  sticks, 
the  other  by  knocking  together  two  stones,  and  catching 
the  sparks  on  dry  moss." 

These  examples,  among  a  host,  may  suffice  to  show  by 
what  steps  the  second  great  device  for  obtaining  fire  was 
reached.  The  flint  and  steel,  or  tinder-box,  not  only 
economized  time  and  labor,  but  introduced  an  epoch 
vastly  in  advance  of  that  represented  by  friction  sticks. 
It  marked  the  conquest  of  iron,  and  the  consequent 
emergement  of  man  from  the  forest.  The  blacksmith's 
forge  had  then  been  put  up.  The  date  of  the  tinder-box 
is  as  much  unknown  as  its  contriver.  Mythology  ascribes 
it  naturally  enough  to  workers  in  iron — to  Vulcan,  and 
also  to  the  Cyclops.  Long  and  prosperous  has  been  its 
career ;  it  has  come  down  to  us  improved  by  the  ingenu- 
ity of  men  of  all  nations,  but  its  days  are  ended.  It  has 
fulfilled  its  mission  and  retires,  being  succeeded  by  the 
friction -match,  a  device  as  much  superior  to  it  as  it  was  to 
its  predecessor.  Its  departure  is  characterized  too  by  the 
opening  of  a  new  cycle  in  the  arts — one  eclipsing  in 
glory  all  other  cycles. 

Sparks  drawn  from  flint  and  steel  excite  no  curiosity, 
but  they  are  interesting  phenomena.  Received  on  a 
sheet  of  paper  they  are  found  to  be  globules  of  vitrified 
metal,  each  being  separated  by  the  flint,  fused  by  the 
heat  elicited  by  collision,  and  oxidized  by  contact  with 


THE    FRICTIOX-MATCH.  57 

the  air  as  they  fall,  just  as  fine  filings  are  melted  when 
dropped  through  the  flame  of  a  candle.  Strange,  that 
while  man  is  ignorant  of  the  metals,  he  can  draw  fire  out 
of  wood ;  and  when  he  subdues  them,  he  extracts  it 
more  copiously  and  readily  from  cold  iron  itself.  Who 
can  fathom  or  even  imagine  the  resources  of  the  arts 
that  yet  lie  hidden  in  matter ! 

Steel  gives  out  more  sparks  than  iron.  Reaumur 
found  a  composition  of  two  parts  of  iron  and  one  of  anti- 
mony supplied  more  and  larger  sparks  than  the  best 
steel.  While  this  alloy  was  being  dressed  in  a  vice  a 
train  of  fire  followed  the  file. 

There  have  been  till  of  late  days  two  general  modes 
of  producing  fire.  Each  represents  a  certain  condition 
of  the  arts,  and  both  embrace  the  entire  cycle  of  human 
existence  to  the  present  century.  The  friction-match  is 
the  third  device :  its  career  is  but  beginning. 

Fire  and  fuel  having  been  provided,  means  for  obtain- 
ing a  wide  range  of  temperatures  were  required.  With- 
out devices  for  increasing  and  modifying  the  intensity  of 
heat  few  of  the  metals,  and  especially  the  chief  of  them, 
could  ever  be  reduced.  These  were  within  man's  reach, 
but  he  was  to  develope  them  himself.  Of  blast  furnaces 
he  had  many  hints  in  the  influence  of  wind  on  flames,  and 
in  the  action  of  his  breath  on  the  coals  on  his  hearth. 
Every  savage  thus  urges  his  smouldering  fires,  and  as  he 
progresses,  employs  reeds  for  blowing  tubes.  With  such, 
Asiatic  and  African  smiths  still  fuse  metal.  Rude  bel- 
lows, as  substitutes  for  the  lungs,  followed  ;  and  at  length 
draught-furnaces  were  found  out,  and  continue  still  to  be 
improved. 

3» 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  THREE  STOREHOUSES  OF  MATTER. 
1.  MINERALS. 

LET  us  now  glance  at  the  three  great  departments  of 
matter,  in  the  order  in  which  they  appeared,  and  see  how 
each  furnishes  a  peculiar  class  of  contributions  to  the 
factory;  or  rather  how  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  ani- 
mal kingdoms,  as  they  have  been  named,  are  veritable 
laboratories  and  storehouses  of  materials  for  human 
manufactures.  This  is  rigidly  and  to  the  letter  true  ;  for 
there  is.no't  a  substance,  force,  or  motion  in  one  of  them, 
be  it  what  it  may,  that  does  not  reflect  light  on  the  earth 
as  a  workshop,  and  on  man  as  an  artificer.  We  can 
refer  only  to  a  few  items  in  each  department ;  but  they 
will  serve  as  specimens  of  the  multitudes,  seen  and  unseen, 
that  crowd  around  us.  To  some  thoughts  on  the  first,  or 
MINERAL  division,  let  us  devote  the  present  chapter. 

If  subterrene  materials  are  to  go  through  man's  hands, 
are  they  offered  to  him  in  such  forms  and  conditions  as 
to  be  manageable  ?  Yes ;  and  remarkable  are  the  dis- 
criminations in  this  respect.  Those  that  are  easily  dug 
into  are  homogeneous,  and  extend  over  large  areas,  as 
fields  of  clay,  coal,  sand,  marl.  So  also  with  such  as  can 
be  quarried,  as  rocks;  they  are  in  immense  and  con- 
tinuous masses,  from  which  blocks  of  any  required 


METALS METEORIC    IRON.  59 

dimensions  may  be  taken — monolithic  temples  have  been 
dislodged.  But  how  is  it  with  the  metals  1  Suppose 
they  had  been  laid  up  in  solid  mountain  piles  like  granite, 
or  in  continuous  pure  and  thick  strata,  what  could  have 
been  done  with  them  ?  Nothing.  It  would  have  been 
beyond  human  power  to  have  extracted  a  supply  from 
them.  Had  a  mammoth  boulder  of  the  finest  malleable 
iron  been  placed  at  the  birth  of  man  in  the  centre  of 
every  township  for  the  use  of  its  inhabitants,  all  would 
have  remained  undiminished  to  this  day.  Like  blocks 
of  copper  recently  found  in  ancient  diggings  on  Lake 
Superior,  from  which  Indians  had  endeavored  to  cut 
portions  with  flint  tools,  they  would  have  remained 
monuments  of  tantalism.  With  all  the  advantages  of 
modern  arts,  masses  of  native  copper  present  serious 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  reduction  into  manageable 
masses,  say  of  a  ton  or  two.  In  the  Lake  Superior  mines 
the  present  method  is  to  cut  grooves  with  chisels  entirely 
through  the  blocks.  Twelve  thousand  dollars  were  thus 
expended  on  a  single  block. 

In  New  Mexico  meteoric  masses  of  fine  malleable  iron 
frequently  occur.  For  centuries  some  have  been  used  as 
town  anvils.  At  Tuscan  in  Sonora,  Mr.  Bartlett,  late 
commissioner  to  determine  the  boundary  line  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico,  heard  of  one  weighing  about 
600  pounds,  and  serving  as  an  anvil  in  the  blacksmith's 
shop.  Desirous  of  obtaining  a  specimen,  Mr.  Bartlett 
observes  it  was  with  much  difficulty  that  a  small  frag- 
ment, only  sufficient  for  an  analysis,  was  detached.  At 
the  Hacienda  da  Concepoion,  in  Chihuahua,  he  found 
another  weighing  between  three  and  four  thousand  pounds, 


60  IRON    ONLY   IN    ORES. 

and  such,  he  says,  was  the  tenacity  and  hardness  of  the 
metal  that,  after  an  hour's  incessant  labor  and  the  break- 
age of  five  chisels — all  his  company  possessed — they 
only  succeeded  in  detaching  three  or  four  pieces  that  did 
not  weigh  an  ounce  altogether.  An  attempt  had  once 
been  made  to  reduce  the  mass  by  building  a  fire  round 
it,  and  heating  it  to  a  white  heat ;  but  the  workmen  could 
not  then  approach  it,  and  their  labor  was  lost.  The  ex- 
pense of  the  operation  exceeded  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
the  only  result  was  a  piece  of  metal  large  enough  to  be 
worked  into  a  pair  of  spurs.* 

Thus,  where  the  metal  has  been  of  the  first  necessity 
since  the  conquest,  and  more  precious  than  gold,  the  peo  • 
pie  have  brought  it,  and  still  bring  it,  from  a  distance  of 
a  thousand  miles  overland,  because  of  their  inability  to 
take  what  they  require  from  these  moderate-sized  lumps 
at  their  very  doors. 

Without  reflection,  we  might  have  thought  it  prefer- 
able to  have  metals  thus  provided,  and  pure  without  the 
trouble  of  smelting  them  ;  but  the  Proprietor  knew  better, 
and  hence,  happily  for  us,  they  seldom  occur  except  as 
minerals  that  readily  yield  to  the  pick,  while  iron,  the 
chief  of  them,  is  only  found  in  ores.  Even  the  softer 
metals,  as  lead  and  tin,  would  have  presented  difficulties 
in  solid  strata  far  surpassing  all  that  attend  their  quarry- 
ing and  reduction.  Their  very  softness  and  inelasticity 
would  have  been  exceedingly  embarrassing  to  miners  of 
them,  whereas,  found  as  they  and  others  are,  they  are 

*  Personal  Narrative  of  Explorations  and  Incidents  in  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  California,  Sonora,  and  Chihuahua,  «fcc.  By  John  Russell 
Bartlett  New  York:  1854. 


IRON — ITS    FUNCTIONS.  61 

obtained  and  passed  through  the  furnace  without  embar- 
rassment. 

But  while  iron  is  the  most  important  of  metals,  it  is  the 
most  difficult  to  reduce  to  a  malleable  state ;  so  that  man 
was  not  to  have  it  without  a  corresponding  outlay  of  men- 
tal and  physical  exertion,  that  he  might  appreciate  it  the 
more.  Still,  every  aid  consistent  with  the  prime  design 
of  his  education  as  an  artificer  was  given  him.  Thus, 
how  pregnant  with  meaning  is  the  fact  that  iron  is  gene- 
rally found  stored  with  fuel  to  reduce  it  !  English  writers 
proclaim  it  as  the  chief  cause  of  the  development  of  the 
iron  trade  in  Great  Britain,  that  the  ore  occurs  among  the 
coal-measures,  "  so  that  the  ore  and  coal  for  smelting  it 
are  found  in  the  same  spot ;  while  not  unfrequently  the 
coal-measures  contain  the  refractory  clay  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  smelting  furnaces,  and  the  limestone 
needed  as  a  flux  occurs  at  no  great  distance."* 

If  man  was  to  be  pre-eminently  a  manufacturer,  a  suit- 
able material  for  cutting-tools  was  of  paramount  import- 
ance. The  agent  of  all  arts,  it  would  be  among  the  first 
and  last  of  his  requirements.  We  know  that  iron  is  that 
material.  In  reference  to  it,  a  question  arises,  which, 
though  now  of  little  moment,  would  be  a  serious  one  if 
the  metal  had  only  just  been  discovered.  It  is  this  : — 
If  the  substance  be  intended  to  cut  all  others,  how  is  it  to 
be  cut  ?  How  formed  into  tools  without  the  aid  of  still 
harder  tools  ?  Let  it  be  remembered  that  before  these 
queries  were  practically  answered,  the  idea  of  giving  to 
natural  bodies  qualities  they  did  not  already  possess  had 

*  Report  of  the  juries  of  the  London  Exhibition  of  1851. 


62  STEEL — THE    MASTER    METAL. 

not  entered  the  minds  of  men.  Had  mines  of  steel  and 
adamant  been  provided  specially  for  tools,  the  same  diffi- 
culty would  have  occurred  ;  for  tools  of  still  harder  ma- 
terials would  have  been  necessary  to  shape  and  sharpen 
them.  While,  therefore,  a  metal  sufficiently  indurate  to 
carve,  cut,  drill,  and  plane  others  was  of  the  first  neces- 
sity, it  was  not  provided  by  nature,  because  it  would  have 
been  useless  unless  furnished  in  the  form  of  finished  tools. 
Now  the  way  in  which  this  most  interesting  exigence  was 
met  excites,  what  every  mechanical  resource  in  nature 
excites  when  first  taken  cognizance  of,  unmingled  surprise 
and  pleasure.  Iron  was  made  capable  of  being  artifi- 
cially hardened,  and  thereby  of  being  made  into  implements 
that  forge,  file,  saw,  and  cut  even  iron  itself  as  easily 
almost  as  soft  lead  or  tin.  The  grand  secret  of  convert- 
ing iron  into  steel  opened  an  ocean  of  new  ideas  on  the 
arts.  It  was  an  early  discovery,  but  second  in  importance 
to  none.  Steel  is  emphatically  the  master  metal. 

Iron  is  more  in  demand  than  other  metals,  while  its 
applications  are  being  rapidly  multiplied,  some  of  them 
involving  vast  additions  to  its  yearly  consumption.  Now 
what  is  the  amount  of  the  stock  in  view  of  such  drain- 
ings  1  Just  what  might  be  supposed.  The  metal  abounds 
more  than  any  other,  and  apparently  more  than  all  others 
put  together,  and  it  abounds  everywhere.  The  quanti- 
ties now  annually  raised,  immense  as  they  are,  will  in 
another  century  or  two  be  deemed  trifles. 

In  France,  the  consumption  of  iron  is  set  down  at 
about  80,000,000  of  kilogrammes.  In  the  United  States, 
there  were  raised  in  1850,  1,579,309  tons  of  iron  ore ; 
but  it  is  in  small  countries,  as  England  and  Belgium,  that 


GREAT  CONSUMPTION  OF  METALS.         63 

the  riches  of  the  earth's  cellars  in  this  and  other  mate- 
rials better  appear.  In  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  the 
product  of  iron  ore  in  1848  was  over  two  millions  of  tons 
of  metal ;  in  1853,  two  and  a  half  millions  ;  upon  which, 
as  pig  and  bar  iron,  were  expended  over  ten  and  a  half 
million  tons  of  coal.  This  enormous  amount  of  one 
metal  is  not  to  be  taken  as  the  yield  of  the  whole  island, 
but  only  of  a  few  spots,  which  bear  no  greater  proportion 
to  it  than  it  bears  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  Indeed,  all 
the  mines  opened  on  the  face  of  the  earth  amount  merely 
to  a  few  borings,  from  which  samples  only  have  been 
extracted. 

The  lead  ore  raised  in  England  in  1852  was  91,198 
tons,  which  produced  64,961  tons  of  metal.  Of  tin,  the 
average  produce  is  5,000  tons  of  metal ;  of  copper,  11,776 
tons  of  metal,  in  1852.  The  annual  product  of  the  East 
India  tin  mines  is  estimated  at  53,000  piculs  [McCul- 
loch.J  Besides  her  home  consumption,  England  export- 
ed in  1841,  690,000  cwts.,  or  38,000  tons  of  hardware, 
cutlery,  steel,  silver,  gold  and  plated  wares,  tin  plate, 
pewter  and  brass  ware.  The  value,  33,000,000  of  dol- 
lars. The  amounts  were  nearly  doubled  in  1852. 

In  the  three  principal  mints  of  the  world  there  was 
coined  in  pounds  sterling,  in  1853  : 

Gold.                Silver.  Copper.  Total. 

United  States,  .  .  10,377,776  1,670,514  13,412  11,901,702 

England, 11,952,391        704,544  9,073  12,666,902 

France, 13,218,536       803,588  78,996  14,101,180 

The  total  amount  of  coin  of  all  kinds  coined  during 
the  year  in  the  three  mints  was  d£38,728,830,  which  con- 


64  ALUMINUM. 

sisted  of  no  fewer  than  174,448,021  pieces ;  or  in  Ameri- 
can money,  the  total  coinage  of  the  three  mints  was 
193,644,150  dollars. 

There  is  no  need  to  enumerate  the  metals  or  their 
diverse  properties ;  but  one  particular  may  be  adverted 
to,  though  it  is  merely  one  of  ten  thousand  confirmations 
of  a  general  truth,  viz.  that  as  the  arts  advance,  and 
new  materials  are  required,  they  will  be  forthcoming ;  or 
else  the  desired  qualities  will  be  found  in  old  materials. 
Examples  are  not  uncommon  in  both  particulars.  As 
regards  the  former,  caoutchouc  and  gutta-percha  are  quite 
modern  instances  from  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  and  what 
are  the  facts  as  respects  the  metals  ?  The  ancients  are 
supposed  to  have  known  only  the  seven  principal  ones  : 
gold,  silver,  copper,  iron,  mercury,  lead,  and  tin.  In  the 
dark  ages  of  inactivity  that  followed,  the  number  con- 
tinued the  same.  In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
modern  inquiries  began,  and  antimony,  bismuth,  and  zinc 
were  added  to  the  list ;  in  the  eighteenth  century  platina, 
nickel,  arsenic,  cobalt,  and  seven  or  eight  others ;  and  in 
the  present  century  some  twenty  more. 

Among  these  last  is  aluminum,  a  white  metal  resem- 
bling silver,  which  fuses  at  about  the  same  temperature, 
ductile,  exceedingly  tenacious,  light  as  glass,  and  not  tar- 
nished by  exposure.  In  time,  beds  of  clay  (its  ores)  will 
be  converted  into  it.  In  many  arts  a  new  metal  is  much 
wanted.  For  suspension  bridges,  a  wire  whose  tenacity 
exceeds  that  of  iron,  much  lighter,  and  not  subject  to 
rust,  is  now  a  desideratum.  Aluminum  offers  some  of 
these  advantages,  if  not  all  of  them.  But  there  are 
others.  From  M.  Vertheim's  experiments  on  wires  of 


METALLIC    ALLOYS.  65 

equal  diameter,  made  of  iron,  of  nickel,  and  of  cobalt,  it 
appears  that  the  weights  which  determine  the  rupture  of 
these  several  wires  are  respectively  as  the  numbers  60 
for  iron,  90  for  nickel,  and  115  for  cobalt.  This  would 
establish  for  cobalt  a  degree  of  tenacity  almost  double 
that  of  iron.  Moreover,  nickel  and  cobalt  are  worked 
at  the  forge  with  the  same  facility  as  iron.  They  are 
perhaps  less  subject  to  oxidation  than  iron,  and  may  be 
used  for  the  same  purposes. 

From  recent  experiments  of  M.  Deville,  laid  before  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris,  it  would  seem  that  alu- 
minum is  soon  to  be  given  to  the  arts  and  to  commerce. 
Common  clay,  so  abundantly  spread  over  the  whole  earth, 
yields  25  per  cent,  of  its  weight  of  metal.  Medals  have 
been  struck  in  aluminum.  It  is  represented  as  inoxidi- 
zable  as  silver,  and  a  much  better  conductor  of  electricity 
than  iron. 

We  can,  indeed,  form  but  imperfect  ideas  of  coming 
changes  in  engineering  by  fresh  accessions  of  metals,  and 
in  all  arts  by  new  materials  and  new  combinations  of 
them.  The  metallic  alloys,  now  so  few,  will  become  a 
multitude.  The  great  fact  that  different  bodies  coalesce 
in  various  proportions,  and  form  compounds  with  proper- 
ties not  possessed  by  the  originals,  but  eminently  service- 
able, elicits  little  remark  ;  yet  it  is  in  every  point  of  view 
a  remarkable  one.  Nature  did  not  prepare  for  us  such 
alloys  as  brass,  bell-metal,  pewter,  and  a  score  of  others 
indispensable ;  but  she  gave  us  the  materials  and  the 
power  to  produce  them. 

From  the  poverty  of  language  or  paucity  of  ideas,  we 
are  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  comparative  values  of 


66  GLASS — CLAYS — BRICKS. 

natural  productions ;  yet  it  is  hardly  correct,  for  they 
are  all  so  allied  to  each  other,  that  not  one  could  be  what 
it  is  without  the  rest.  But  for  this  suggestion,  we  were 
ahout  to  represent  as  next  in  worth  to  the  metals  the 
earths  from  which  come  bricks,  tiles,  domestic  earthen- 
ware, and  all  the  fertile  varieties  of  ceramic  manufac- 
tures, so  influential  have  such  things  been  in  multiplying 
human  enjoyments.  This  is  perceived  by  comparing  the 
few  rude  attempts  at  pottery  of  primitive  tribes  with  the 
general  profusion  of  porcelains  at  the  present  day ;  and 
yet  that  is  but  noting  one  item  in  a  volume  of  items. 
Glass,  the  most  beautiful  of  compounds,  is  another  ;  and 
the  field  of  industrial  enterprise  it  has  opened  has  cer- 
tainly not  been  half  gone  over.  That  the  ingredients  of 
this  artificial  metal  should  be  in  such  plenty,  so  close  at 
hand,  the  process  of  producing  and  working  it  so  easy, 
and  that  it  should  prove  of  transcendent  utility  to  science 
as  well  as  to  social  progress,  may  be  received  as  indica- 
tions of  equally  novel  and  attractive  alloys  yet  to  be 
found  out  for  new  branches  of  trade  and  commerce. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  obvious  of  arts,  the  work- 
ing of  clays,  prepared  man  to  grapple  with  indurate 
bodies.  With  the  metals  he  could  have  done  little  or  no- 
thing till  he  had  furnaces,  crucibles,  and  retorts.  It  may 
serve  to  assist  the  mind  in  trying  to  grasp  the  amount  of 
plastic  matter  annually  drawn  out  of  the  earth  and 
worked  up  by  man,  to  note  a  few  items.  There  were 
made  in  England,  in  1847,  2,193,829,491  building  bricks, 
of  all  sizes.  Allowing  eighteen  to  the  cubic  foot,  they 
were  sufficient  to  build  a  solid  column  one  hundred  feet 
square  and  over  two  and  a  quarter  miles  high.  The 


VAST  AMOUNT  OF  MINERALS  USED  UP.  67 

clays  worked  into  paving,  roofing  and  encaustic  tiles, 
draining  and  other  pipes,  works  in  terra-cotta  and  archi- 
tectural decorations,  into  fire-bricks,  grate-backs,  fur- 
nace linings,  gas  retorts,  chemical  apparatus,  and  nume- 
rous other  goods,  in  clays  and  cements,  would  suffice  for 
another ;  while  a  third  might  be  reared  from  the  materials 
worked  into  pottery,  stone-wares,  china,  glass,  and  mine- 
ral fabrics  not  enumerated  above.  Then  how  greatly 
the  number  might  be  increased  by  the  rocks  quarried  for 
building  and  engineering  purposes  !  Amid  the  variegated 
shafts  that  might  thus  be  yearly  raised  on  the  soil  of 
England,  those  of  coal  would  be  conspicuous  for  their 
number  and  for  their  color,  since  they  would  be  relieved 
by  those  of  marble  and  chalk. 

Suppose  all  the  metals  and  minerals  drawn  out  of  Eng- 
lish ground  the  last  fifty  years  were  thus  disposed  of, 
what  a  striking  illustration  they  would  furnish  of  the 
treasures  stored  away  in  the  lower  stories  of  this  Earthly 
Factory  !  But  what  are  fifty  years  of  the  past  to  the  de- 
cades of  centuries  to  come,  when  the  whole  globe  might 
be  more  thickly  dotted  with  such  shafts  ! 

The  amounts  of  dressed  and  undressed  granite,  lime- 
stone, sandstone,  flag-stones,  slate  and  other  rocks,  drawn 
annually  out  of  the  earth  for  the  public  and  private  works 
of  nations,  would  tax  our  powers  to  calculate.  It  is, 
moreover,  surprising  how  these  amounts  increase  by  new 
applications  of  the  commonest  of  minerals  ;  how  slate, 
for  example,  is  becoming  a  substitute  for  wood  in  floors, 
as  well  as  in  roofs ;  in  panelling,  steps  of  stairs,  linings 
of  rooms  and  cisterns  ;  in  household  and  even  ornamental 
furniture ;  in  sideboards,  tables,  chimney-pieces,  &c. 


68  SLATE — COAL. 

Sawn,  split,  planed,  carved,  polished,  and  inlaid,  it  has 
already  become  an  important  element  in  the  industry  of 
some  nations,  and  will  become  one  in  many.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  steatite  or  soap-stone.  Then,  how  vast 
the  quantities  of  the  richest  marbles,  alabasters,  porphyries, 
spars,  serpentine,  jasper,  jet,  &c.,whichare  being  constantly 
worked  up  in  columns,  friezes,  sculptures,  mosaics,  and 
in  every  department  of  architectural  and  household  carv- 
ings and  statuary.  The  conclusion  is  irresistible,  that 
these  and  other  applications  not  yet  found  out,  were  con- 
templated by  the  Creator,  and  that  for  them  the  diverse 
properties,  colors,  textures,  grain,  and  appearances  were 
given  to  rocks  and  stones. 

One  thought  more  before  we  dismiss  them  :  To  iron,  in 
one  form  or  another,  all  solid  bodies  yield  ;  at  the  same 
time  a  power  to  act  on  it  is  deposited  in  the  most  refrac- 
tory ;  and  hence  when  blunted,  these,  in  the  form  of 
grindstones,  whetstones,  and  hones,  restore  to  its  cutting 
edges  both  sharpness  and  polish.  This  reciprocal  power 
between  iron  and  the  rocks  may  be  considered — if  consi- 
dered at  all — an  incidental  or  small  affair,  and  yet  it  is 
of  essential  value  in  the  arts.  What  would  cutlers  or 
carpenters  do  without  grindstones  and  hones,  or  millers 
without  millstones  1 

Everything  that  has  been  discovered  about  coal  shows 
what  it  was  intended  for,  and  the  importance  attached 
to  it  by  the  Creator.  Its  formation  began  with  the 
earliest  land  vegetation,  that  no  time  might  be  lost  in  its 
preparation,  and  the  advent  of  man  not  be  unnecessarily 
delayed. 

The  primitive  or  lowest  rocks  contain  no  traces  of  ani- 


FIRST    FORMATION    OF    COAL.  69 

mals  or  plants,  although  some  of  them,  as  clay-slates, 
were  deposited  from  water.  Upon  them  repose  certain 
others  of  vast  thickness,  in  which  vegetation  first  appears 
in  sea-weed,  accompanied  with  marine  life  in  its  lower 
forms.  These  rocks  have  been  named  the  old  Palaeozoic 
rocks ;  and  it  is  not  till  we  ascend  through  other  forma- 
tions to  the  new  Palaeozoic  period  that  land  vegetation 
appears.  Then,  dense  and  matted  forests  covered  all  the 
land.  The  universal  and  singular  character  of  the  vege- 
tation has  been  well  ascertained.  Its  varieties  were  ex- 
ceedingly limited.  About  two  thirds  of  the  species  and 
four  fifths  of  individual  plants  belonged  to  a  single  family 
of  ferns  ;  another  group  were  club  mosses  ;  and  a  third 
the  Equisetacese.  These  three  families  constituted  three 
fourths  of  the  vegetable  world  during  the  first  coal 
period,  and  in  that  proportion  contributed  to  make  up 
the  first  coal  fields  of  the  earth. 

The  plants  thus  converted  into  a  substance  more  valu- 
able than  diamonds,  are  now  counted  among  the  worth- 
less, The  first  kind  is  represented  in  the  dress  of  our 
heaths  and  moors  ;  the  second  by  plants  which  none 
notice  but  inquiring  botanists  ;  and  the  third,  by  what 
farmers  call  "  horsetails,"  that  grow  in  ditches  and  swamps, 
and  are  everywhere  deemed  signs  of  bad  land.  The 
three  dwarf  families  were,  however,  giants  in  primeval 
forests  ;  they  there  rose  into  trees,  with  trunks  varying 
in  height  from  ten  to  sixty  or  seventy  feet.  Having 
accomplished  the  task  assigned  them,  they  are  probably 
now  dying  out. 

Such  was  the  monotonous  and  unattractive  character 
of  the  oldest  vegetation.  It  had  no  grass,  nor  succulent, 


70  CHARACTER   OF   THE    FIRST   VEGETATION. 

crisp,  or  pulpy  fruits  ;  no  flowers,  no  animals,  and  no 
birds  to  break  the  awful  silence  with  their  songs.  The 
period  was  too  early  for  them  :  food  had  not  been  pre- 
pared, the  sweltering  temperature  was  uncongenial,  and 
the  atmosphere  thickened,  if  not  darkened  with  vapors 
fatal  to  life.  Still,  everything  was  just  what  was  required 
to  accomplish  the  objects  of  the  epoch. 

We  have  no  data  for  measuring  the  period  during 
which  the  vitality  of  the  earth  was  thus  being  concen- 
trated ;  and  if  we  had,  our  minds  are  hardly  prepared  to 
receive  the  results,  so  minute  and  contracted  have  been 
popular  and  authorized  speculations  on  the  subject.  But 
let  no  one  imagine  it  was  prolonged  unnecessarily  or  un- 
profitably  for  a  day. 

Nor  let  any  one  surmise  that  the  then  vegetable  power 
was  wasted  in  desert  air.  It  has  come  down,  and  now 
circulates  through  our  vastly  more  varied  and  richer 
flora.  There  was  no  human  eye  to  glance  at  or  roam 
through  the  primeval  forest  ;  but  every  person  now  can 
have  tons  of  its  fossilized  timber,  and  draw  from  it  power 
expended  on  its  growth.  In  the  vast  duration  of  the 
silent  ages  which  constituted  the  coal-formations,  the 
intention  of  the  Creator  is  apparent  in  laying  up  a  mate- 
rial that,  in  the  remote  future,  was  to  give  unprecedented 
animation  and  activity  to  the  planet. 

The  first  vegetation  grew  rank,  and,  as  it  ripened, 
much  of  it  appears  to  have  sunk,  as  in  peat  bogs,  for 
trunks  are  found  in  perpendicular  positions.  Then  a 
new  geological  period  brought  over  the  whole  a  platen 
of  rock,  and  thus  closed  up  the  products  of  the  first  car- 
boniferous epoch,  preparatory  to  their  undergoing  the 


PRESSURE  OF  COAL  BETWEEN  PLATEMS  OK  ROCK.      71 

requisite  pressure  to  fossilize  them.  But  the  first  was 
not  sufficient,  hence  successive  alternations  of  rock  and 
mineralized  forests  occur.  Is  it  asked,  why  not  have 
prepared  the  whole  at  once  ?  Because,  among  other 
obvious  advantages,  time  was  saved  by  the  plan  adopted, 
i.  e.  by  sealing  up  the  proceeds  of  the  first  formation, 
and  passing  them  on  towards  the  final  process  of  ela- 
boration, while  material  for  new  charges,  or  beds, 
was  being  accumulated.  These  kept  compressing  the 
lowest  one  into  smaller  and  smaller  space,  which 
they  could  not  have  done  except  by  the  interposition 
of  the  rocky  platens.  In  this  way  the  first  layer  would 
be  ready  for  man,  while  the  others  were,  in  their  order, 
maturing  for  him. 

Thus  were  all  the  fields  of  mineralized  vegetation 
under  our  feet  prepared.  The  interposition  of  platens  of 
rocks,  besides  being  necessary  in  the  process  of  pressure, 
was  also  required  to  keep  out  other  matters.  Had  coal 
been  mixed  up  with  other  substances,  its  value  had  been 
greatly  diminished  ;  but  special  care  has  been  taken  to 
preserve  it  from  adulteration.  This  feature  in  its  history 
is  as  interesting  as  any  other. 

The  prodigious  pressure  to  which  the  strata  were,  and 
are  submitted,  increases  as  they  settle  down,  and  thus 
the  platens  are  brought  nearer  and  nearer,  as  the  material 
between  them  is  compressed  into  less  and  less  space. 
The  pressure,  combined  with  internal  heat,  is  considered 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  carbonization  of  both  bitumi- 
nous and  anthracite  coal.  The  latter  is  the  densest,  and 
is  deemed  to  belong  to  the  oldest  formation. 

Leaves,  twigs,  branches,  and  trunks  grew  much  as  now 


i2  VAST  DURATION  OF  COAL  PERIODS. 

they  grow,  i.  e.  not  faster  than  they  ripen  in  the  tropics  ; 
yet,  if  we  examine  American  forests  in  the  torrid  zone, 
no  recognisable  addition  to  vegetable  remains  is  percep- 
tible since  the  discovery.  No  doubt  large  quantities 
have  been  swept  down  and  buried  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi,  St.  Lawrence,  the  Amazon,  Oronoco,  and  La 
Plata,  for  ages,  and  also  by  all  the  large  streams  of  the 
Eastern  hemisphere,  during  the  historic  period.  But, 
supposing  the  materials  of  the  early  coal  strata  were  thus 
collected,  which  is  hardly  reconcilable  with  their  purity, 
or  allowing,  which  is  more  probable,  that  they  sank  in 
bogs  where  they  sprang  up,  still  they  matured  not  much, 
if  any,  faster  than  now. 

In  upper  beds  of  coal  new  systems  of  vegetation  ap- 
pear. Pines,  palms,  firs,  maples,  and  poplars,  are  com- 
mon ;  and  in  them  are  intimations  that,  compared  with  the 
duration  of  the  coal  periods,  the  historic  epoch  of  forty 
centuries  is  but  as  an  hour.  "  A  fossil  trunk  was  found  in 
an  upright  position,  measuring  eleven  feet  in  diameter, 
and  in  which  729  annual  rings  were  counted.  This  gives 
us  a  striking  illustration  of  the  vast  periods  of  time  which 
have  passed  by  on  earth  ;  and  although  chemistry  is  ca- 
pable of  strengthening  and  concentrating  active  forms  in 
high  degrees,  and  although  this  magical  science  can  often 
bring  about  in  a  few  minutes  things  that  require  many 
years  to  effect  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  the  con- 
templation of  the  enormous  sum  of  years  of  past  times 
warns  us  not  thoughtlessly  to  over-estimate  the  experi- 
ments of  the  laboratory,  when  we  are  investigating  great 
geological  phenomena ;  for  by  continued  action  through 
thousands  of  years,  very  weak  agents  are  capable  of  pro- 


COAL    INEXHAUSTIBLE.  73 

ducing  results  which  at  first  sight  we  should  imagine  to 
be  impossible." —  Von  KobeL 

The  annual  yield  of  the  English  mines  has  risen  to 
34,600.000  tons.  This  enormous  drain  has  led  to  inquiries 
respecting  the  future :  some  writers  predict  exhaustion 
within  a  few  centuries,  others  contend  that  nothing  of  the 
kind  is  inferable,  even  with  a  continuously  increased  de- 
mand. In  South  Wales  are  stores  not  opened.  They 
have  been  examined  and  are  found  to  extend  over  an  area 
of  about  12,000  square  miles,  and  they  alone  could  meet 
the  demand  after  all  the  present  English  coal  mines  are 
worked  out.  In  the  United  States  over  150,000  square 
miles  of  coal  beds  have  been  ascertained  already — of  these 
upwards  of  40,000  are  in  Illinois. 

A  first  element  of  progress  for  all  time,  it  is  preposter- 
ous to  suppose  the  supplies  of  coal  can  ever  be  exhausted 
or  even  become  scarce.  The  idea  is  almost  blasphemous. 
It  is  a  reflection  on  the  Proprietor  of  the  earth,  and  can 
only  arise  from  not  knowing  the  manufacturing  character 
he  has  stamped  upon  it :  though  invisible  in  manufactures, 
the  presence  of  coal — that  is,  its  power — is  in  almost  every 
thing  man  makes,  from  a  needle  or  penknife  to  a  steam- 
ship ;  from  a  brick  to  a  city ;  a  ball  of  thread  to  anything 
made  of  thread. 

•  In  nothing  are  the  manufacturing  purposes  of  the  Crea- 
tor more  obvious  than  in  the  article  of  fuel.  Of  what 
value  indeed  could  metallic  ores  and  soft  earths  have 
been  without  it.  To  meet  the  constant  demand,  wood, 
peat,  turf,  and  other  inflammable  materials,  are  spread 
over  the  earth's  surface,  while  its  interior  is  surcharged 
with  coal.  It  is  a  magazine  of  fuel  and  of  materials  to 

4 


74       ELABORATION  OP  MATTER  ENDLESS. 

be  heated.  As  long  as  it  remains  a  factory,  coal  must  be 
provided,  and  will  be.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  formation  of  this  substance  is  now  going  on  in  the 
depths  of  our  oceans — preparing  a  supply  for  workmen 
under  new  configurations  of  the  surface.  There  is  indeed 
nothing  to  indicate  that  the  elaboration  of  matter  here  is 
to  stop.  We  cannot  imagine  it  to  cease  on  any  inhabited 
orjb.  That  the  physical  aspects  and  condition  of  the  earth 
are  ever  changing  is  certain  ;  and  from  the  fact  that,  with 
the  whole  heavens,  she  is  ever  varying  her  position  in 
space,  it  may  well  be  that  future  mutations  will  exceed 
those  she  has  undergone. 

But  change  implies  not  decay.  It  is  the  antagonist  of 
stillness,  the  preventive  of  stagnation,  the  conservative 
result  of  the  ever  acting  forces  in  matter ;  hence,  not  a 
plant,  a  pebble,  a  world,  or  the  universe  of  worlds,  can  re- 
main for  two  moments  absolutely  without  change.  It  is 
thus  that  an  endless  succession  of  varieties  in  the  forms 
and  qualities  of  matter,  with  corresponding  modifications 
of  artificial  fabrics,  are  secured.  As  the  earth's  forms  and 
products  vary,  so  will  human  arts.  Perpetual  vigor  circu- 
lates through  all  matter ;  and  the  earth,  we  may  presume, 
has  within  herself  the  elements  of  lasting  duration. 
Therein  lies  the  difference  between  God's  mechanisms 
and  ours.  Could  we  implant  enduring  energy  within, 
or  cause  it  to  circulate  through  them,  we  should  rival 
him  in  power. 

The  mineral  kingdom  furnishes  raw  material  for  human 
labor :  the  production  of  food  belongs  not  to  it ;  and  yet 
it  supplies  that  which  gives  to  food  its  best  relish.  Salt, 
next  to  bread,  is  a  necessary  of  life  ;  and  as  the  common 


SALT.  75 

seasoner  and  great  preserver  of  food,  it  is  quarried  as  a 
mineral  in  most  countries.  The  mines  of  England  have 
long  been  worked,  and  some  are  among  the  richest  yet 
discovered.  The  consumption  of  salt  in  Great  Britain  is 
estimated  at  616,000,000  Ibs.  Counting  22  Ihs.  for  each 
individual,  and  assuming  this  as  a  fair  allowance  for  the 
world's  consumption — and  we  should  suppose  it  under 
rather  than  over  the  truth,  since  there  are  immense  quan- 
tities consumed  by  cattle,  and  more  still  in  various  manu- 
factures and  arts  not  included — then  the  thousand  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  require  an  annual  supply  of  twenty- 
two  thousand  millions  of  pounds.  A  better  illustration  of 
the  profusion  of  man's  kitchen  supplies  could  hardly  be 
cited  than  these  eleven  millions  of  tons  of  one  condi- 
ment. 

In  warm  climates,  the  sea  is  a  magazine  of  salt,  the 
water  being  evaporated  in  wide  basins,  formed  in  the 
soil.  That  little  Atlantic  patch,  known  as  Turk's  Island, 
furnishes  about  50,000  bushels  of  sea  salt  weekly.  Salt 
springs  are  also  more  or  less  common  in  all  countries. 
Were  it  required  to  quote  particulars  respecting  the 
sources  of  rock  salt,  we  might  refer  to  one  bed  of  it  in 
Gallicia,  which  is  460  miles  long,  90  miles  wide,  and  1200 
feet  thick. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  THREE  STOREHOUSES  OF  MATTER. 
2.  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS. 

THE  factory  would  have  been  a  failure  if  its  operatives 
had  had  only  minerals  to  work  in.  Properties  not  found 
in  them  were  a  necessity ;  and  unless  substances  possess- 
ing them  were  to  be  had,  the  work  would  stop.  The 
VEGETABLE  department,  by  its  contributions,  prevented 
that.  One  prime  desideratum  was  realized  in  the  various 
kinds  of  wood — a  species  of  matter  eliminated  by  different 
processes  than  minerals,  but  one  that  added  to  their  value 
by  facilitating  the  means  to  procure  and  employ  them. 

Now,  as  wood  could  not  be  produced  under  ground, 
and  as,  if  it  were  developed  like  minerals  in  strata  or 
wide  layers,  there  was  not  room  for  it  upon  the  ground, 
what  was  to  be  done  ?  What  would  have  been  our  sug- 
gestions on  the  dilemma  1  The  needful  quantity  was  so 
large  that,  if  trees  had  grown  horizontally,  the  earth  had 
long  ere  now  put  on  the  appearance  of  a  spherical  raft  of 
closely  interlaced  timber,  floating  in  space  as  if  for  a 
market.  There  had  been  no  room  for  man  nor  for  his 
operations ;  and  yet  he  requires  almost  the  whole.  Ob- 
serve, then,  with  what  singular  wisdom  and  economy  the 
exigence  was  met,  and  only  a  moderate,  indeed  a  very 
small  space,  taken  up.  The  new  material  was  made  to 


TIMBER — FORM  OF  BOLES.  77 

rise  in  vertical  columns,  whose  lower  ends  only  occupied 
the  ground,  all  the  rest  being  above,  where  there  was 
nothing  to  interfere  with  or  be  incommoded  by  its  exten- 
sion; the  intermediate  spaces  on  the  ground  being,  more- 
over, as  usefully  occupied  as  if  the  boles  of  trees  had  not 
interrupted  them. 

Another  point  of  economy  is  exhibited  in  the  general 
form  of  boles  of  trees.  Their  sections  are  circles  ;  hence 
the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  timber  is  compressed 
into  the  least  possible  space.  Had  they  grown  up  in  wide 
slabs,  in  square  or  angular  masses,  the  same  quantity  of 
material  would  have  taken  up  a  great  deal  more  space, 
and  would  in  other  respects  have  been  inconvenient. 
They  would  have  been  less  able  to  resist  storms  of  wind, 
and  would  have  seriously  interrupted  the  flight  of  animals 
through  forests.  Does  the  reader  think  there  was  abun- 
dance of  room,  and  therefore  no  need  of  contrivances  to 
make  the  most  of  it  ?  Let  us  look  at  it :  More  than  two 
thirds  of  the  earth's  surface  are  covered  by  oceans,  seas, 
lakes,  rivers,  and  other  bodies  of  water — sources  and  dis- 
tributing reservoirs  of  moisture  and  fertility,  and  at  the 
same  time  theatres  of  aqueous  and  sub-aqueous  life.  Less 
than  one  third,  then,  only  is  left  (and  in  it  are  included 
immense  deserts  of  sand,  wide  regions  of  barren  rocks, 
extensive  moors,  and  arid  wastes)  for  the  swarming  myri- 
ads of  animals  for  which  it  has  to  provide  room  and  food ; 
for  the  moving  millions  of  men,  and  their  dwellings,  farms, 
cities,  factories,  roads,  and  all  other  undertakings  requir- 
ing room  ;  for  vegetable  products  required  in  a  thousand 
manufactures,  &c. ;  and  the  wonder  will  be  how  such 
masses  of  material  are  raised,  and  such  inconceivable 


78  FUNCTIONS    OF   TIMBER. 

legions  of  living  beings  accommodated,  on  so  small  an 
area.  Moreover,  it  is  not  merely  what  has  been  and  is 
now  required,  but  what  will  be  when  our  species,  instead 
of  numbering  one  thousand,  will  amount  to  three,  and 
perhaps  to  five  thousand  millions. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  remark  that  woods  most 
useful  most  abound,  and  that  every  climate  has  those 
most  durable  in  it ;  nor  need  reference  be  made  to  the 
functions  this  glorious  material  fulfils ;  that  to  it  we  are 
indebted  for  social,  civil,  and  manufacturing  architecture ; 
for  navigation  and  its  wondrous  appurtenances ;  for  imple- 
ments and  mechanisms  without  number ;  and  for  some  of 
the  most  salutary  and  refining  influences  that  pervade 
society. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  metals,  timber  is  provided  in 
manageable  masses.  The  size  of  trees  is  adapted  for 
human  not  Cyclopean  artisans.  Had  they  generally 
approached  in  dimensions  the  great  Californian  cedar — 
325  feet  high  and  92  feet  in  circumference  at  the  ground ; 
88  feet  at  four  feet,  and  66  feet  at  ten  feet  above  the 
ground — what  could  have  been  done  with  them — with 
logs,  one  of  which  laid  along  the  pavement  of  some 
streets,  would  fill  them  to  the  roofs  of  three-story  houses  ! 
The  difficulties  of  felling,  transporting,  handling,  and  slit- 
ting such  into  beams  and  boards,  would  have  been  seri- 
ously embarrassing. 

The  adaptation  of  the  size  of  trees  to  human  strength 
and  means  is  exemplified  in  the  annexed  table  of  the  or- 
dinary dimensions  of  full-grown  boles  of  Europe,  pre- 
pared by  Boussingault.  (See  his  "  Rural  Economy.") 


SIZE  OF  TREES  ADAPTED  TO  HUMAN  STRENGTH.  7D 


Names  of  Trees. 

Usual  Height  of  Trunks 
in  Feet. 

Usual  Diameter  of  Trunks 
in  Inches. 

Spruce  Fir, 

26    to   100  feet 

47.1    inches. 

larch, 

26     "     100    " 

39.3         " 

Poplar,     . 

19     "       65 

31.8 

Pine, 

16     "       65 

34.1         " 

Plane, 

16     "      48 

36.1         " 

Oak, 

«      «        « 

31.4         " 

Elm, 

«      «        « 

31.4         " 

Birch,       . 

• 

<        « 

29.4         " 

Beech, 

" 

<         « 

28.2         " 

Lime, 

« 

<        « 

25.9         " 

Ash, 

" 

i           a 

23.5         " 

Willow,    . 

" 

<           « 

11.7 

Chestnut,  . 

13 

<       48 

36.1         " 

do.   another 

arie 

y. 

" 

<        « 

28.2 

Maple, 

10 

'       48 

«            « 

Service,    . 

13 

'       39 

17.6         " 

Acacia,     . 

13 

'       26 

19.2 

Hornbeam, 

10 

23    " 

21.2 

Mulberry, 

" 

><    « 

16.5          ' 

Wild  Pear, 

« 

«<        (C 

14.1           ' 

Crab, 

6     "       20   " 

12.9          ' 

Walnut,   . 

6     "       16    " 

36.1 

These  measures  are  those  of  the  trees  at  their  maturity, 
and  fit  for  felling.  The  spruce  and  larch  present  the 
largest  boles,  but  even  they  do  not  exceed  four  feet  in  dia- 
meter. Next  are  the  plane,  pine,  oak,  elm,  chestnut, 
and  maple.  The  walnut  exceeds  most  of  them  in  growth, 
but  attains  only  one  third  of  the  length  of  many. 

If  the  average  dimensions  of  European  trunks  were 
deduced  from  the  preceding  table,  it  would,  we  should 
suppose,  be  much  too  high — about  32  feet  in  length  and 
27  inches  in  diameter.  The  medium  in  the  virgin  forests 
of  both  Americas,  where  magnificent  boles  abound,  and 


80  GIGANTIC    TREES    HOLLOW. 

where  for  decades  of  centuries  they  have  been  undis- 
turbed by  man,  would  hardly  come  up  to  it.  In  the 
forests  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  we  should  think 
15  inches  would  be  a  fair  average  diameter,  and  18  inches 
a  liberal  one.  Here  we  have  the  button-wood  tree  among 
the  largest ;  then  the  white-oak,  whose  stems  run  up  80 
and  often  to  100  feet,  with  a  girth  at  two  feet  above  the 
ground  of  15  feet ;  white-wood — tulip  tree  or  yellow 
poplar — that  furnishes  carpenters  with  their  widest  panel- 
ling ;  black  walnut ;  white  and  pitch  pines,  and  elms 
that  rival  them ;  hemlock,  chestnuts,  maples,  lime  or 
basswood,  red  oaks,  hickory,  locust,  ash,  dog-wood,  mag- 
nolias, &c. 

In  most  of  these,  examples  of  extraordinary  dimen- 
sions and  age  occur,  as  they  occur  everywhere ;  but 
such  are  no  more  to  be  taken  as  data  for  the  general 
growth  of  trees  than  individuals  standing  like  Maximus, 
eight  feet  high ;  and  others  who  live  150  years,  as  standards 
by  which  to  determine  the  stature  and  age  of  man. 
Trees  grow  up  and  die  like  men.  Experienced  lumber- 
ers tell  at  a  glance  when  they  are  ripe ;  that  is,  when 
they  will  acquire  no  more  sound  wood.  After  that,  they 
may  swell,  like  mortals  in  a  dropsy,  but  not  in  health 
and  solidity  ;  hence  trees,  like  animals,  attain  determined 
dimensions,  and  then  cease  to  increase  in  any  one  direc- 
tion, except  at  the  expense  of  another.  Gigantic  trees 
are  almost  always  hollow.  Emigrants'  wagons  are  often 
backed  into  the  interior  of  ancient  button-woods. 
The  great  dragon  tree  of  the  Canaries,  16  feet  in  dia- 
meter, was  as  thick  and  hollow  in  A.  D.  1402  as  it  is 
now.  The  largest  European  oak  (in  France)  is  23 


AVERAGE    SIZE    OF    AMERICAN    TREES.  81 

feet  diameter,  but  within  the  trunk  is  a  natural  chamber, 
over  10  feet  one  way  and  12  another.  Besides  the  mam- 
moth tree  of  California,  already  mentioned,  there  are 
others  in  Oregon  and  California  of  the  same  kind ;  some 
even  larger,  but  not  sound.  One  offers  a  more  commo- 
dious room  than  many  miners'  lodges.  Of  some  blown 
down,  a  gentleman  rode  his  horse  through  one,  from  end 
to  end ;  another  is  mentioned  110  feet  in  circumference  and 
410  feet  in  length.  This,  too,  is  hollow  ;  and  if  the  hollow 
was  a  little  enlarged  it  would  make  a  very  good  rope- walk. 
Admitting  the  primitive  forests  of  tropical  America  to 
be  richer  in  gigantic  trunks  than  the  northern  half  of  the 
Continent — a  fact  by  no  means  certain — it  is,  I  think, 
doubtful  whether  they  would  furnish  an  average  thick- 
ness of  20  inches  in  their  boles.  The  mahogany  tree  is 
the  most  remarkable  for  its  magnitude,  and  yet  the  largest 
recorded  log  was  only  17  feet  long  by  54  and  64  inches. 
In  the  public  and  private  buildings  of  South  America, 
timber  of  unusual  dimensions  is  not  met  with.  Wide 
flooring  planks  occur  in  Brazilian  cities,  the  wood  re- 
sembling in  color  and  texture  soft  mahogany ;  but  I  have 
rarely  found  them  over  20  inches,  and  the  greater  part 
within  that  width.  The  widest  planks  to  be  met  with  in 
the  Atlantic  cities  are  in  the  boxes  in  which  sugar  comes 
in  from  the  interior,  viz.  from  2j  to  3  feet.  The  tree 
that  furnishes  them  is  the  jequitaba,  one  of  the  largest  of 
Brazilian  trees.  The  wood  is  white,  soft,  and  light,  some- 
thing like  our  white-wood.  The  natives  made  and  make 
canoes  of  it,  and  in  them  its  largest  masses  are  to  be  seen. 
Five  or  six  feet  in  diameter  are  probably  the  limits  of  its 
healthy  growth. 

4* 


82  WEIGHT    OF    VARIOUS   WOODS. 

I  heard  of  the  most  extraordinary  one  on  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Macacu  river,  which  runs  into  the  bay  of 
Rio  Janeiro.  It  was  said  to  surpass  in  magnitude  all 
others  in  the  province.  It  was  a  straight,  slightly  ta- 
pering shaft,  clear  of  branches  and  foliage  for  100  feet 
up.  Near  the  ground  it  was  32  feet  in  circumference,  and 
three  feet  above  the  ground  27  feet.  Its  roots  at  one 
part  presented  the  appearance  of  a  range  of  vertical  wall 
or  rock,  and  50  paces  from  the  trunk  they  appeared  half 
out  of  the  ground,  in  long  masses,  2J  and  even  3  feet  in 
diameter.  A  few  feet  above  the  ground  there  was  a 
handsomely  formed  round  hole  in  the  trunk,  naturally 
formed,  and  through  it  I  pushed  a  stick  in  a  horizontal 
position,  seven  feet,  so  that  the  stately  trunk  was  hollow — 
a  mere  tube,  whose  walls  were  so  thin  as  to  cause  surprise 
at  their  stability.  A  few  years  more,  and  it  will  be  pros- 
trated by  age  and  decay. 

Another  feature  in  the  world's  timber  is — the  heaviest 
woods  are  not  found  in  the  largest  boles,  but  generally  in 
the  smallest,  a  provision  that  vastly  facilitates  man's  con- 
trol over  them.  Fir  is  only  half  as  heavy  as  oak,  while 
ebony,  lignum-vitae,  and  box  are  rather  shrubs  than  trees. 
Hickory  is  rarely  seen  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  exceedingly 
few  sticks  of  rose-wood  are  met  with  so  large.  The  gi- 
gantic button-wood  weighs  only  26  Ibs.  to  the  cubic  foot, 
the  poplar  hardly  20,  the  huge  cypress  22,  yellow  pine 
22,  spruce  and  hemlock  23,  white-wood  24,  titan  cedars 
26,  chestnut  26,  maple  36,  hickory  49i  dog-wood  47, 
black-walnut  28,  locust  40,  ash  30,  pitch-pine  32,  elm  38, 
white  oak  53,  live  oak  56,  lignum-vitse  71.  The  oak, 
from  the  large  size  it  acquires,  seems  to  be  a  special  ex- 


THE  LARGEST  TREES  LIGHT  AND  EASILY  WORKED.      83 

ception,  in  favor  of  the  great  marine  purposes  to  which  it 
it  applied — like  the  blue-gum  tree  of  Van  Diemen's  land 
and  the  teak  of  India,  though  the  latter  is  not  a  heavy- 
wood.  It  varies  from  32  to  37  Ibs.  per  cubic  foot.  Cey- 
lon teak  is  the  heaviest,  being  42  Ibs.  The  best  English 
oak  is  only  39  Ibs. 

Thus  the  general  truth  remains  that  the  largest  trees 
are  light  and  easily  worked.  The  acacia  is  one  of  Asia's 
towering  boles,  but  it  \yeighs  only  23  Ibs.  to  the  cubic 
foot.  The  great  firs  of  Europe  only  17  Ibs.  But  it  may 
be  said — How  is  it  when  from  trees  of  the  largest  girth 
some  of  the  hardest  timber  is  derived  ?  Why  then  the 
boles  are  decidedly  shortened.  Thus  in  the  account  of  the 
woods  of  Africa  in  the  report  of  the  juries  of  the  London 
exhibition,  the  iron-wood  tree,  it  is  said,  acquires  a  dia- 
meter of  four  feet,  but  the  height  of  the  trunk  varies  be- 
tween 25  and  45  feet.  The  blaauw-bosch  attains  to  eight 
or  nine  feet  in  diameter  :  as  the  wood  is  hard  and  heavy, 
masts  of  it  from  200  to  300  feet  long  would  be  all  but  un- 
manageable ;  but  what  is  their  height  ?  It  varies  between 
five  and  twelve  feet !  Another  species  has  a  diameter  of 
seven  feet,  and  the  height  of  its  bole  confined  to  twelve, 
but  more  generally  to  ten  feet  ?  The  boschquarry  has  a 
diameter  of  six  feet  ten  inches,  with  a  trunk  six  feet  eight 
inches  !  Again,  the  seybast  is  seven  feet  nine  inches  in 
diameter,  and  in  height  seven  feet  ten  inches. 

The  baobab,  or  monkey-bread  tree,  is  among  the  most 
colossal  of  vegetable  columns,  but  they  are  rather  Doric 
than  Corinthian  in  their  proportions.  In  Senegambia  trunks 
of  great  antiquity  have  been  found  from  twenty  to  thirty- 
feet  in  diameter,  their  heights  not  exceeding  twice  their 


84  PERPETUAL    SUPPLY    OF    WOOD. 

thickness.  One,  thirty -two  feet  in  diameter,  is  supposed 
to  be  from  five  to  six  thousand  years  old.  Finally,  yew 
trees  are  often  of  immense  dimensions,  but  chiefly  in  their 
girth.  The  famous  chestnut  trees  of  Etna  are  so  short 
that  at  a  distance  each  has  been  taken  for  a  group. 

From  what  is  at  present  known  of  the  forests  of  the 
earth,  this  precious  material  is  evidently  prepared  for  us 
in  masses  perfectly  within  ordinary  efforts  and  appliances 
to  dispose  of.  Then,  a  perpetual  supply  is  secured.  Man 
cannot,  if  he  would,  waste  his  mineral  stock ;  it  costs  too 
much  to  raise  it  to  allow  him  to  do  that.  But  of  timber 
and  other  vegetable  products  he  might,  through  indolence 
and  carelessness,  bring  about  a  scarcity ;  and  so  he  would, 
were  it  not  for  the  provision,  that  they  have  in  themselves 
the  elements  of  their  preservation  and  multiplication. 
Acorns  drop  and  take  root  without  his  care. 

There  appears  an  analogy  between  the  life  of  man  and 
that  of  shrubs  and  trees  ;  at  any  rate,  they  shoot  up,  and 
ripen  within  such  periods  that  human  elaborators  of  one 
age  cannot  deprive  those  of  another  of  timber,  any  more 
than  they  can  of  food. 

Another  fact : — Wood  was  to  be  more  or  less  used  as 
fuel  over  the  whole  globe.  For  this  purpose  no  special 
varieties  were  required,  since  experiments  show  that  the 
same  weight  of  dry  wood  of  every  kind  has  the  same 
amount  of  heating  power. 

In  the  wonderful  compounds  of  matter  that  make  up 
the  second  great  division  of  material,  how  rmich  there  is 
to  elicit  and  exhaust  admiration.  A  new  world  of  thought 
and  of  art  was  opened  in  wood  simply :  so  different  from 
minerals,  in  its  being  developed  before  our  eyes,  in  the 


COLORS  AND  OTHER  ORNAMENTAL  FEATURES — DYES.  85 

system  of  perpetuating  its  varieties,  in  the  diverse  magni- 
tudes of  trees  and  their  variegated  crowns  of  foliage ;  in 
the  mechanical  properties  of  the  ligneous  fibre ;  in  its 
diverse  degrees  of  hardness,  softness,  flexibility,  elasticity, 
and  texture ;  every  feature  offering  a  class  of  advantages 
in  the  arts :  in  its  ornamental  attributes,  too,  as  exhibited 
in  colors — jet  in  ebony,  black  and  dark  brown  in  walnuts 
and  oaks,  purple  and  light  greens  in  the  munjaddy  and 
myle-ellah  of  India,  red  in  mahogany  and  cedar  ;  yellow 
in  box,  satin-wood,  and  the  maples  ;  then  there  is  the  red 
ebony  of  Australia,  the  cream-tinted  and  snow-white  tulip 
tree,  and  every  shade  and  tint  in  others.  Moreover,  how 
still  more  attractive  are  these  colors  made  by  straight, 
curved,  waving,  and  involved  graining !  In  addition  to 
which,  there  is  always  more  or  less  shading ;  and  in  cocoa 
and  other  rich  woods  are  cloud-like  dashes  of  India  ink — 
some  after  the  manner  of  tortoise-shell,  and  others  re- 
sembling jaguars'  and  leopards'  skins — invariably  pro- 
ducing such  pleasing  effects  that  decorative  artists  inces- 
santly labor  to  imitate  them. 

Then  woods,  besides  furnishing  examples  of  painting 
in  colors,  provide  us  with  material  for  giving  to  other 
substances  colors  which  they  do  not  always  themselves 
possess.  Each  pigment,  too,  besides  imparting  its  every 
tint,  contributes  to  develop  other  and  very  different  colors. 
Logwood  yields  blacks  and  purples ;  fustic,  olive-browns 
and  yellows ;  barwood,  camwood,  Brazil,  and  sappan 
woods  impart  reds,  blacks,  and  browns  ;  woad  and  indigo, 
blues  and  greens ;  madder,  the  brilliant  scarlet  or  turkey 
red  ;  turmeric,  bright  yellows  ;  orchil,  purples,  reds,  and 
blues ;  annatto,  orange ;  safflower,  crimson,  scarlet,  rose- 


86         EXTRAORDINARY   AMOUNT   OF   WOOD   USED   UP. 

color,  and  pink.  There  is  the  green  ebony,  and  a  thousand 
more  dyewoods,  known  and  unknown. 

From  the  same  shelves  in  the  vegetable  storehouse  we 
receive  the  great  preservatives  of  colors,  in  the  various 
lacs  prepared  from  gums  and  resins. 

Now,  what  is  the  language  of  these  particulars,  and  of 
forest  timber  at  large  ?  That  wood  is  specially  designed 
for  man — that  no  other  occupant  of  the  earth  compre- 
hends its  worth,  or  can  use  it,  or  the  lacs  and  dyes  which 
it  furnishes.  Had  it  all  been  light  and  porous  as  the 
sycamore  or  cork  tree,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  had  it  been 
heavy  and  dense  as  lignum- vitse,  it  had  been  of  compa- 
rative little  value  to  man.  But  we  are  ordained  to  be 
elaborators  in  wood  as  in  the  metals ;  and  hence  the 
facilities  for  its  acquisition,  its  varieties  of  masses,  proper- 
ties, and  adaptations. 

What  proportion  the  amount  of  timber  employed  in  the 
arts  bears  to  that  of  mineral  bodies  has  not,  I  suppose, 
been  ascertained,  perhaps  not  thought  of.  The  beams, 
floors,  partitions,  stairs,  window-frames,  wainscotting, 
doors,  roofing,  and  furniture,  approach  in  bulk  the  mate- 
rial of  the  walls  of  most  houses ;  but  take  the  dwellings 
of  man  at  large,  and  the  greater  part  are  built  wholly  of 
wood  ;  add  that  which  is  consumed  in  them  as  fuel,  and  all 
the  firewood  used  up  in  the  earth's  factories ;  then  take 
into  the  account  the  timber  worked  up  by  ship-builders, 
carriage-makers,  and  other  workmen  in  it :  and  the 
amount  will  equal,  perhaps  exceed,  in  cubic  feet,  all  the 
materials  drawn  out  of  the  earth.  In  any  point  of  vie^v 
the  amount  is  extraordinary,  and  especially  so,  considering 
the  very  limited  area  of  the  earth's  surface — a  mere  frac- 


VEGETABLE    MATERIALS   FOR   ROPES.  87 

tion — from  which  it  is  taken.  But  the  secret  is  in  its 
development :  had  it  matured  slowly,  as  minerals,  not  a 
ripe  tree  had  been  left  standing,  in  the  face  of  the  enor- 
mous and  incessant  demand.  How  simply  and  beautifully 
are  all  difficulties  arising  from  rapid  demand  met  by  rapid 
production.  By  this,  supplies  are  secured,  aud  will  be 
secured  to  artisans,  although  civilization  levels,  and  will 
continue  to  level,  so  many  forests. 

Of  the  annual  accounts  of  ship-building  in  the  United 
States,  the  tonnage  for  1852  amounted  to  35,149.41 
tons.  . 

The  lumber  trade  of  a  single  town  in  the  United  States 
— Bangor,  in  Maine — amounted  in  1853  to  182,942,284 
cubic  feet. 

After  timber  was  added  to  the  artisan's  stock,  many 
chasms  remained  to  be  filled  from  the  same  department. 
One  or  two  may  be  noticed.  Wood  and  metals  serve 
admirably  to  transmit  force  from  one  end  of  a  bar  to  an 
object  at  the  other,  as  in  a  crowbar  or  lever,  the  handle 
of  a  spade  or  a  hammer ;  but  in  a  wide  class  of  cases  it 
is  necessary  to  send  forces  over  distances,  and  in  direc- 
tions, where  inflexible  rods  or  shafts  could  not  apply  ;  as 
in  hoisting  a  ship's  sails  or  anchor,  raising  coal  and  ores 
from  mines.  A  material,  light,  soft,  pliable,  tenacious, 
aud  easily  handled,  was  wanted — i.  e.  a  material  for  ropes  ; 
and  how  varied  and  inexhaustible  the  sources  of  supply 
are  every  one  knows.  Into  few  things  was  man  more 
early  initiated  than  in  the  use  of  ropes.  Long  before  a 
tree  was  cut  down  he  employed  them.  In  tropical  forests 
especially,  natural  ropes  abound,  everywhere  pendent 
from  the  highest  trees,  and  running  along  the  ground, 


88      WICKER   AND    BASKET   WARE — COTTON    THREAD. 

thousands  of  feet  in  length,  uniform  in  thickness,  and 
varying  in  dimensions  from  cables  to  whip-cord.  The 
prosperity  and  progress  of  the  arts  depended,  and  depend 
no  little  on  cordage  :  not  by  any  conceivable  possibility 
could  they  have  come  up  to  what  they  are  had  ropes  and 
pulleys  never  been  known. 

Another  primitive  and  permanent  application  of  vege- 
table matter  constitutes  the  world's  wicker,  basket,  chip 
and  straw-plaited  wares ;  embracing  agricultural  and 
mechanical  implements — e.  g.  the  bodies  of  carts,  the 
unique  tepiti  or  mandioca  press  of  the  Caribs  and  of 
South  American  Indians ;  and  an  infinity  of  personal, 
social,  and  domestic  articles  and  utensils.  In  the  manu- 
facture of  straw-plait  alone,  seventy  thousand  persons 
find  employment  on  one  of  the  earth's  small  islands. 
1,577  cwts.  of  plait  were  imported  into  England  in  1852 
for  home  consumption. 

The  vegetable  world  furnishes  the  most  of  our  clothing 
The  annual  produce  of  thread  is,  in  its  lineal  extent,  all 
but  inconceivable.  1,481,000,000 — One  billion  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-one  millions  of  pounds  of  cotton  were 
worked  up  into  it  in  1852.  At  the  London  Exhibition 
one  manufacturer  furnished  samples  of  one  pound  of  cot- 
ton spun  into  900  hanks  of  840  yards  each,  making  nearly 
430  miles.  Another  firm  exhibited  4,200  hanks  of  the 
same  numbers  of  yards  each,  making  2000  miles  from  a 
single  pound  of  cotton !  If  we  therefore  multiply  the 
above  amount  only  by  430,  the  length  of  thread  that  a 
single  crop  of  cotton  could  make,  would  be  over  six  hun- 
dred billions  of  miles,  or  sufficient  for  a  web  of  stout  calico, 
a  yard  wide,  and  containing  85  threads  to  the  inch,  that 


HEMP,    FLAX,  AND    OTHER    FIBROUS    PLANTS.  89 

wmld  be  more  than  enough  to  reach  from  us  to  the 
sun. 

And  yet  all  this  is  from  cotton  alone.  Hemp  and  flax 
in  some  measure  rival  it :  of  them  there  were  raised  in 
the  U.  States  in  1850,  not  less  than  1,860,000,000  of 
pounds.  In  the  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  material 
for  woven  fabrics  and  for  machinery  to  manufacture  it, 
but  a  few  years  would  be  required  for  our  looms  to  fill 
an  order  for  webs  of  double  belting,  sufficiently  long  to 
connect  the  Sun  with  each  of  the  planets,  in  the  way 
motion  is  communicated  from  the  large  drum  of  a  factory 
to  a  number  of  smaller  ones.  We  inclose  our  bodies  in 
artificial  cocoons : — In  winter  a  lady  is  enwrapped  in  a 
hundred  miles  of  thread ;  she  throws  over  her  shoulders 
from  thirty  to  fifty  in  a  shawl.  A  gentleman  winds  be- 
tween three  and  four  miles  round  his  neck  and  uses  four 
more  in  a  pocket-handkerchief.  At  night  he  throws  off 
his  clothing  and  buries  himself  like  a  larva,  in  four  or  five 
hundred  miles  of  convolved  filaments. 

Still,  exceedingly  few  of  the  fibre-yielding  plants  have 
been  taken  up  by  manufacturers,  and  yet  they  abound 
everywhere — in  weeds,  sedges,  coarse  grasses,  and  in  the 
leaves  of  some  of  the  commonest  shrubs  and  trees.  The 
banana  and  its  relatives  have  recently  been  named  as 
examples,  which  besides  fruit  would  yield  from  9,000  to 
12,000  Ibs.  per  acre,  of  fibre,  fit  for  fabrics  of  every  de- 
gree of  fineness,  from  muslin  to  ropes.  Countless  millions 
of  tons  of  this  and  kindred  substances  spontaneously 
shoot  up  every  year  and  sink  again  into  the  ground, 
neglected  by  man. 

For  her  factories,  England  imported  in  1851,  1,301,488 


90  PROFUSION    OF    VEGETABLE    ALIMENTS. 

cwts.  of  hemp  and  11,194,184  cwts.  of  flax  =  nearly 
700,000  tons  of  2000  Ibs.  each. 

The  flax  and  the  cotton  plant  are  not  known  to  have 
flourished  before  the  advent  of  man.  Not  till  he  came 
were  they  fully  developed. 

The  very  first  of  necessities  is  also  supplied  from  this 
department.  It  is  here  that  man's  chief  pantry  as  well 
as  his  wardrobe  is  placed.  A  description  of  aliments 
stored  in  it,  their  varieties,  abundance,  and  means  to  im- 
prove them,  cannot  of  course  be  attempted  in  these  pages. 
Reference  to  some  items  will  serve  to  show  how  liberally 
the  Proprietor  of  the  factory  has  victualled  it.  There 
were  raised  in  1850  in  the  U.  States  upwards  of  592  mil- 
lion bushels  of  maize  or  Indian  corn.  Counting  the 
bushel  at  l£  cubic  feet,  the  grain  would  have  filled  a 
store-room,  twenty  feet  wide,  ten  feet  deep,  and  seven 
hundred  miles  in  length.  The  yield  of  wheat  in  1851 
(125,607,000  bushels)  would  require  an  additional  twenty 
miles  to  the  structure ;  rye  thirteen,  buckwheat  nine,  bar- 
ley four,  between  eight  and  nine  for  peas  and  beans,  three 
or  four  for  rice,  and  not  less  than  five  hundred  for  potatoes, 
beets,  and  other  tubers.  Partitions,  miles  apart,  would  be 
also  required  for  apples,  peaches,  grapes,  phims,  cherries, 
and  orchard  produce ;  for  sugar  (over  200,000,000  Ibs.), 
nuts,  strawberries,  gooseberries,  currants ;  for  peppers, 
mustard,  spices,  and  condiments,  and  all  the  produce  of 
market  gardens,  over  a  thousand  miles  more  would  be 
taken  up — to  say  nothing  of  tanks  for  molasses,  wines 
(in  1853,  two  millions  of  gallons),  ale,  cider,  and  other 
drinks.  But  figures  soon  lose  their  force  on  the  mind, 
and  it  is  the  same  with  magnitudes  when  repeated.  Be- 


THE  BREAD  BOUNDARY  THE  WIDEST  OF  ZONES.  91 

sides,  to  acquire  definite  ideas  of  the  riches  of  vegetation, 
definite  quantities  should  be  ascertained  and  considered 
in  reference  to  the  areas  whence  they  are  taken.  When 
this  is  done  with  respect  to  every  item  in  our  world's 
delicious  and  plenteous  bill  of  fare,  torpid  must  be  the 
souls  that  peruse  it  without  emotions  of  admiration  and 
gratitude. 

Of  tea,  England  imported  in  1853,  66,360,555  Ibs.  Of 
coffee,  the  world's  product  is  between  three  and  four  hun- 
dred thousand  tons.  The  world's  crop  of  sugar  from 
cane,  beet-root,  and  maples,  cannot  be  less  than  900,000 
tons,  since  the  amount  recognised  in  commerce  is  840,365 
tons.  The  demand  is  rapidly  swelling,  but  however  much 
it  may  increase,  there  are  no  limits  to  the  means  of  supply. 

The  bread  boundary  of  the  earth  is  the  widest  of 
zones,  extending  from  45°  north  to  50°  south  of  the  equa- 
tor ;  while  within  it  are  others  that  foster  maize,  mandi- 
oca,  yams,  plantains,  bread-trees,  cocoas,  sago,  and  others, 
so  that  man's  larder  is  fully  supplied  with  bread,  and 
quite  as  generously  with  fruits,  fish,  and  meats. 

Sicily,  Barbary,  and  Egypt  were  formerly  the  gra- 
naries of  Europe,  but  are  not  now,  because  of  the  de- 
cay, not  of  the  land,  but  of  the  people.  The  supplies 
now  come  from  the  south  and  south-east  plains  of  the 
Baltic.  Among  the  places  of  export  is  Dantzic,  and  it 
has  sent  out  a  million  of  tons  of  wheat  and  rye  in  a  year. 
The  average  of  Russian  exports  of  the  same  cereals,  from 
1538  to  1840,  was  4,500,000  tons  a  year. 

When  man  enters  this  depot  for  supplies,  something 
more  is  required  of  him  than  when  he  applies  at  the 
storehouse  of  minerals.  The  latter  are  produced  without 


92  MAN'S  POWER  OVER  VEGETABLES. 

his  assistance ;  the  long  periods  required  for  them  to  ma- 
ture in,  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  affect  them.  He  can 
neither  change  their  quantities  nor  their  qualities,  while 
in  vegetables  he  can  do  both.  Had  the  nature  of  mine- 
rals been  such  as  to  admit  of  his  labor  in  their  prepara- 
tion, it  had  certainly  been  required  of  him,  since  the 
purport  of  his  existence  was  to  be  attained  through  his 
acquaintance  with  the  compositions  and  evolutions  of 
matter ;  but  the  processes  of  their  formation  are  so  slow, 
that  had  the  tenure  of  his  life  extended  into  centuries,  he 
could  not  have  biassed  their  development.  Now  the  pro- 
ducing powers  of  vegetation  are  so  active  as  to  induce 
greater  changes  in  a  day  than  do  those  that  form  mine- 
rals in  a  thousand  years,  so  that  he  has  every  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  himself  on  them. 

But  is  it  his  duty,  and  has  he  the  power  1  Undoubt- 
edly ;  although  it  may  be  there  are  those  who  think  he 
cannot  meddle  with  nature's  works  without  marring  them. 
A  great  mistake.  In  this  department  she  produces  no- 
thing absolutely  perfect  without  him,  and  she  will  not. 
Designed  for  a  nursery,  it  requires  nurserymen.  Forests 
and  prairies  are  at  large,  what  neglected  farms  are  in 
little.  They  cover  the  ground  with  things  growing  rank 
and  wild,  and  choking  each  other ;  they  are  what  he  him- 
self is  before  being  drawn  out  of  the  jungles  of  igno- 
rance and  improved  by  cultivation.  The  principles  at 
work  and  the  soil  they  work  on  are  at  his  service ;  but 
like  tools  in  a  machinist's  shop,  their  profitable  employ- 
ment rests  with  himself.  They  will  cover  his  fields  with 
wheat  and  fill  his  gardens  with  fruit,  if  he  so  wills,  by 
properly  exciting  them.  If  he  fold  his  arms  in  indo- 


EFFECTS    OF    HUMAN    LABOR    ON    VEGETABLES.         93 

lence,  they  will  expend  themselves  in  weeds.  In  this  de- 
partment man  was  to  acquire  a  very  large  portion  of  his 
knowledge  of  matter,  and  of  his  experience  as  a  manipu- 
lator ;  hence,  whatever  he  has  the  ability  to  do,  is  left  for 
him  to  do.  Perfectly  developed  organisms  are  not  pro- 
duced for  him,  but  their  germs  are  supplied,  and  agencies 
to  unfold  and  ripen  them.  Spontaneous  growth  shows 
the  workings  of  these  agencies,  but  not  their  perfect 
working ;  that  is  left  for  him  to  bring  out. 

In  some  respects,  planters  and  farmers,  florists  and 
fruiterers  surpass  other  elaborators,  inasmuch  as  they 
join  nature  and  improve  her  products  before  leaving  her 
hands.  They  cause  qualities  to  appear  where  they  were 
not,  and  in  greater  or  less  quantities  where  they  were. 
They  diversify  dimensions,  colors,  and  texture.  The  va- 
riations and  multiplications  of  plants,  extinction  of  old 
and  introduction  of  new  ones,  are  with  them. 

It  is,  then,  by  bringing  in  plants  from  the  wilderness, 
domesticating  and  carefully  cultivating  them,  that  they 
are  to  be  improved.  It  is  thus  that  the  sloe-bush  has 
been  changed  into  the  plum  tree,  and  grasses  into  corn- 
bearing  cereals.  Vegetables  are  literal  mechanisms  for 
elaborating  matter ;  and  to  improve  their  products,  they 
themselves  must  be  improved  or  changed,  just  as  artificial 
contrivances  are,  when  required  to  turn  out  better  goods. 
Indeed,  there  have  been  made  as  great  and  beneficial 
changes  in  natural  as  in  artificial  mechanisms,  and  the 
future  will  no  doubt  record  equally  new  achievements  in 
both.  The  former  can  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  and 
with  infinitely  greater  facility  than  additions  are  made  to 
looms  and  spindles.  New  varieties,  moreover,  produced 


94    INFLUENCE  OF  THE  ATMOSPHERE  ON  VEGETATION. 

by  hybridity,  and  corresponding  with  new  inventions  in 
the  arts,  will  never  cease.  Then  as  regards  economy  of 
space,  a  matter  of  the  first  importance  in  reference  to  a 
future  densely  populated  world,  it  has  been  shown  (in  the 
Kew  Gardens  of  London)  that  on  an  area  where  not  over 
two  hundred  plants  would  grow  in  a  wild  state,  twenty 
thousand  have  been  made  to  flourish. 

There  can  therefore  be  no  doubt  that  as  great  and  be- 
neficent discoveries  are  to  come  out  of  the  ground  as  have 
been,  or  will  be  made  upon  it,  and  that  as  broad,  and 
deep,  and  fresh-flowing  streams  of  intellect  are  required 
in  the  management  of  organic  matter  as  of  that  which  is 
immobile  and  dead. 

Some  political  economists  have  declaimed  against  for- 
eign commerce  that  exchanges  flour,  corn,  and  other  pro- 
ducts for  hardware,  dry-goods,  and  fancy  merchandise ; 
the  fertility  of  land,  the  essence  of  it,  being  bartered  for 
things  that  return  nothing  to  replenish  it.  The  fruitful- 
ness  of  an  island  or  a  continent,  it  is  said,  may  thus  be  ex- 
hausted. Can  this  be  ?  Is  there  no  compensating  prin- 
ciple at  work  in  nature  to  prevent  so  serious  an  evil,  and 
one  that  might  derange  the  whole  economy  of  the  earth  1 
Surely  there  is,  and  is  it  not  in  the  atmosphere  ?  All 
plants  derive  their  food  directly  or  indirectly  from  it ;  and 
do  not  trade-winds,  aerial  storms,  ordinary  gales,  and 
ceaseless  movements  in  it  tend  to  maintain  an  equal  dis- 
tribution of  the  matter  it  holds  in  suspension — sufficient 
at  least  to  counteract  general  and  permanent  if  not  local 
and  temporary  irregularities.  Plants  raised  in  glass  vases 
from  earth  weighed  and  dried  in  an  oven  were  found  to 
take  nothing  or  next  to  nothing  from  the  earth.  The  rich 


MANY   SPECIES   OF   PLANTS   UNKNOWN.  95 

palm-oil  of  Africa  is  from  trees  that  luxuriate  in  hot  dry 
white  sand ;  so  it  is  with  many  or  most  of  the  cacti. 
The  olives  of  Sicily  flourish  on  rocks.  It  is  indeed  an 
agricultural  axiom  that  a  numerous  people  can  never  be 
absolutely  dependent  on  the  soil  of  other  countries  for 
food.  In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  are  unproductive 
lands  sufficient  to  feed  over  eight  millions  of  additional 
population  ;  and  of  England  alone,  the  most  cultivated 
of  the  two  islands,  it  has  been  stated  by  competent  au- 
thorities that  the  produce  might  be  doubled. 

On  the  limited  state  of  our  knowledge  of  vegetable 
arithmetic,  Humboldt  observes,  that  if  we  had  sufficient 
grounds  for  believing  that  one  half  of  the  phaenogamous 
plants  were  known,  and  taking  the  known  at  160,000 
according  to  one  estimate,  or  at  213,000  at  another,  we 
should  have  to  add  from  25,000  to  35,000  species  of  the 
grasses.  And  as  these  appear  to  form  one  twelfth  of  the 
Earth's  plants,  the  united  numbers  would  only  amount  to 
one  eighth  or  one  tenth  of  the  species  that  now  exist  ? 

The  assumption  that  we  already  know  half  the  exist- 
ing species  of  phsenogamous  plants  is  further  opposed  by 
the  following  considerations.  Several  thousand  species 
of  Monocotyledons  and  Dicotyledons,  and  among  them 
tall  trees,  have  been  discovered  in  regions  considerable  por- 
tions of  which  had  been  previously  examined  by  distin- 
guished botanists.  The  portions  of  the  great  continents 
which  have  never  even  been  trodden  by  botanical  observ- 
ers, considerably  exceed  in  area  those  which  have  been 
traversed  by  such  travellers,  even  in  a  superficial  manner. 
The  greatest  variety  of  phaenogamous  vegetation,  the 
greatest  number  of  species  on  a  given  area,  is  found  be- 


96  COUNTRIES    UNEXPLORED    BY    BOTAKISTS. 

tween  the  tropics,  and  in  the  sub-tropical  zones.  This 
last  mentioned  consideration  renders  it  so  much  more  im- 
portant to  remember  how  almost  entirely  unacquainted 
we  are,  on  the  New  Continent  north  of  the  equator,  with 
the  floras  of  Oaxaca,  Yucatan,  Guatimala,  Nicaragua,  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  Choco,  Antioquia,  and  the  Provincia 
de  los  Pastos  ;  and  south  of  the  equator,  with  the  floras 
of  the  vast  forest  region  between  the  Ucayale,  the  Rio  de 
la  Madeira,  and  the  Tocantin  (three  great,  tributaries  of 
the  Amazon),  and  with  those  of  Paraguay  and  the  Pro- 
vincia de  los  Missiones.  In  Africa,  except  in  respect  to 
the  coasts,  we  know  nothing  of  the  vegetation  from  15° 
north  to  20°  south  latitude ;  in  Asia  we  are  unacquainted 
with  the  floras  of  the  south  and  south-east  of  Arabia, 
where  the  highlands  rise  to  about  6,400  English  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  of  the  countries  between  the 
Thianschan,  the  Kuenlien,  and  the  Himalaya,  all  the 
west  part  of  China,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  countries 
beyond  the  Ganges.  Still  more  unknown  to  the  botanist 
are  the  interior  of  Borneo,  New  Guinea,  and  part  of  Aus- 
tralia. 

As,  therefore,  by  the  progressive  exploration  of  new 
countries,  we  gradually  exhaust  the  remaining  unknown 
species  of  any  of  the  great  families,  the  previously  as- 
signed lowest  limit  rises  gradually  higher  and  higher ; 
and  since  the  forms  reciprocally  limit  each  other,  in  con- 
formity with  still  undiscovered  laws  of  universal  organi- 
zation, we  approach  continually  nearer  to  the  solution  of 
the  great  numerical  problem  of  organic  life. 

But  is  the  number  of  organic  forms  itself  a  constant 
number]  Do  new  vegetable  forms  spring  from  the 


ANIMAL   PRODUCTS.  97 

ground  after  long  periods  of  time,  while  others  become 
more  and  more  rare,  and  at  last  disappear  ]  Geology,  by 
means  of  her  historical  monuments  of  ancient  terrestrial 
life,  answers  to  the  latter  portion  of  this  question  affirma- 
tively. In  the  ancient  world — to  use  the  remark  of  an 
eminent  naturalist,  Link — we  see  characters,  now  appar- 
ently remote  and  widely  separated  from  each  other,  asso- 
ciated and  crowded  together  in  wondrous  forms,  as  if  a 
greater  developemenf  and  separation  awaited  a  later  age 
in  the  history  of  our  Planet.* 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

THE   THREE    STOREHOUSES   OF   MATTER. 
3.   ANIMAL    PRODUCTS. 

IN  this  third  department  matter  appears  in  types  and 
forms  widely  unlike  mineral  and  vegetable  bodies.  In 
one  of  those  it  is  inert ;  in  the  other  it  has  motion,  but  is 
tethered  to  the  ground ;  in  this  it  is  locomotive.  In  the 
first  it  crystallizes,  in  the  second  germinates,  in  the  third 
it  lives,  being  endued  with  sensitive  organs,  and  impelled 
by  instinctive  impulses.  The  change  of  an  impalpable 
air — of  matter  so  attenuated  that  leagues  of  it  offer  no  ob- 

*  Humboldt's  Aspects  of  Nature. 
5 


98  ANIMALS  ELABORATE  MATTER  FOR  MAN. 

stacle  to  vision  passing  through  it — to  a  gross  liquid  or  solid, 
is  marvellous ;  hut  not  more  so  than  the  metamorphosis 
of  common  earth  into  fruit  trees  and  flowers,  into  in- 
sects, reptiles,  fishes,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and  men. 

There  is  no  medium  adapted  to  sustain  life  but  what  is 
pervaded  with  it.  While  the  torrid  and  temperate  zones 
teem  with  living  forms,  the  polar  ice  resounds  with  the 
cries  or  songs  of  birds,  and  the  hum  of  insects.  The 
atmospheric  ocean,  from  its  bottom  on  which  we  move  to 
the  elevations  in  which  the  condor  soars,  is  redolent  of 
life.  But  utterly  innumerable  as  visible  living  forms  are, 
their  numbers  are  insignificant  compared  to  the  legions 
that  the  microscope  reveals.  Nor  is  it  known  where  life  is 
most  abundant — on  land,  or  in  the  unfathomed  depths  of 
the  oceans. 

As  with  plants,  so  it  is  with  animals  :  they  are  natural 
apparatus  for  supplying  man  with  materials  for  his  fabrics, 
such  as  he  could  not  elsewhere  obtain,  as  wool,  hair, 
feathers,  down,  silk,  leather,  glue,  horn,  ivory,  wax,  oils, 
furs,  coloring  matters,  bone,  pearl,  tortoise  and  other  shells, 
sperm,  whalebone,  isinglass,  &c.,  &c., — their  numbers 
filling  important  pages  in  the  catalogue  of  his  working 
stock. 

Now,  though  man  cannot  originate  living  organisms,  he 
can  control  them  so  far  as  essentially  to  modify  the  pro- 
ducts they  yield  him  :  a  circumstance  wonderful  in  itself, 
although  being  common  no  one  wonders  at  it,  and  yet 
nothing  less  than  a  verbal  or  written  declaration  from 
above  could  more  emphatically  proclaim  him  a  manufac- 
turer than  the  power  given  him  over  the  development  of 
most  of  the  substances  just  enumerated,  and  over  others 


DEVELOPMENT  AND  IMPROVEMENT  OF  ANIMAL  PRODUCTS.  99 

in  the  vegetable  world.  By  them  he  learns  that  the  two 
active  departments  of  Nature  unite  with  the  passive 
(mineral)  one  in  preparing  materials  for  him.  It  seems 
strange  that  he  should  be  trusted  with  the  awful  power  to 
contract  and  expand  the  area  of  existence,  and,  conse- 
quently, its  enjoyments  ;  but  as  tenant  and  manager  of  the 
factory,  and  alone  responsible  for  the  manner  of  conduct- 
ing it,  he  was  left  to  determine  what  living  aids  he  should 
reject  or  employ.  As  in  the  vegetable  department,  so  in 
this,  he  was  to  have  the  means  within  himself  of  increas- 
ing and  diminishing  the  materials  he  wanted. 

Elaborators  who  provide  materials  for  clothing  and  food 
operate  chiefly  on  the  soil  and  its  products.  While  some 
devote  themselves  to  fibrous  substances,  to  cereals,  sugar, 
fruits,  and  roots,  others  convert  grass,  corn,  and  potatoes 
into  beef,  mutton,  and  pork,  into  wool,  hair,  horns,  and 
hides — operations  that  are  as  truly  arts  and  manufactures 
as  the  casting  of  types  or  building  of  ships.  Indeed, 
those  whose  producing  apparatus  are  plants  and  cattle 
are,  in  some  respects,  superior  to  other  elaborators,  since 
they  deal  with  matter  in  its  highest  forms  of  development. 
They  diversify  products,  and  evolve  them  with  equal  cer- 
tainty and  uniformity  as  operatives  on  inert  matter.  They 
improve  them  too,  as  do  engineers  and  manufacturers, 
who,  to  obtain  better  results,  alter  or  exchange  their 
machinery.  Precisely  on  the  same  ground  do  planters 
and  herdsmen  introduce  new  seeds  and  breeds. 

A  few  items  of  the  statistics  of  animals  and' of  animal 
products  will  lighten  the  subject  by  breaking  the  monotony 
of  its  disquisitions. 

The  milch  cows  of  the  IT.  States  in  1850  numbered 


100   PRODUCTIVE  ANIMALS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

6,385,094,  working  oxen  and  other  black  cattle  11,393,813, 
sheep  21,723,220,  swine  30,354,213,  laboring  horses, 
mules,  and  jacks,  4,335,669.  There  were,  exclusive  of 
the  above,  animals  slaughtered  for  food,  whose  value  was 
nearly  112,000,000  dollars,  and  whose  numbers  could 
not  therefore  have  been  under  20,000,000.  The  numbers 
for  1853,  according  to  the  Patent  Office  Report,  were — 
Five  millions  of  horses  and  mules,  twenty  millions  of 
horned  cattle,  thirty-two  millions  of  sheep,  and  twenty- 
three  millions  of  swine.  Arrange  these  flocks  and  herds 
after  the  manner  of  Jacob,  allow  ten  feet  for  the  larger 
and  eight  for  the  smaller,  to  prevent  their  treading  on 
each  other — mount  five  millions  of  drovers,  being  one  to 
every  sixteen  animals — and  the  line  would  extend  several 
times  round  the  globe.  But  what  are  they  compared  to 
the  wild  animals  that  range  the  forests  and  prairies  of  the 
IT.  States  !  The  buffaloes  alone  would  form  an  unbroken 
phalanx  round  the  earth,  and  the  wild  horses  another. 
Still,  to  the  quadrupeds  of  the  world  they  are  little  more 
than  specimens  in  a  menagerie. 

Of  animal  products  leather  is  an  ordinary  one.  Of  the 
amount  made  in  the  U.  States  in  1850  we  have  no  ac- 
count, but  the  value  of  that  worked  into  the  single  article 
of  shoes  in  a  single  state  (Massachusetts)  is  set  down  at 
twelve  millions  of  dollars.  The  leather  manufactures  of 
England  stand  third  or  fourth  on  the  list,  being  inferior 
only  in  point  of  value  and  extent  to  those  of  cotton,  wool, 
and  iron.  She  imported  in  1851,  and  tanned  2,330,901 
hides.  She  uses  up  yearly  60,000,000  Ibs.  of  leather,  and 
the  value  of  the  manufactured  article  is  70,000,000  dol- 
lars. 


SHEEP  AND  WOOL THE  OCEAN.         101 

In  1800,  England  had  26,147,743  sheep  and  lambs. 
In  1854,  the  number  in  the  three  kingdoms  was  32,000,000. 
She  now  imports  (chiefly  from  Australia)  70,000,000  Ibs. 
of  wool,  and  clips  from  her  own  sheep  120,000,000  Ibs., 
making  one  hundred  and  ninety  millions  of  pounds  of  the 
fibre  spun  and  woven  by  one  people  in  each  year.  The 
clip  of  wool  in  the  U.  States  in  1850  was  52,516,959  Ibs. 
France  ten  years  ago  (1843)  worked  up  45,000,000  Ibs. 
of  wool  annually. 

Such  are  at  best  but  a  few  solitary  specimens  of  pro- 
ducts furnished  by  domestic  land  animals.  More  might 
have  been  added,  as  hair,  horn,  and  tallow — of  the  last, 
Russia,  after  supplying  herself,  sent  137,160,000  Ibs.  to 
other  peoples. 

Animals  are  not  confined  to  land,  water  is  an  immense 
theatre  of  vitality.  Why  were  two  thirds  or  three  fourths 
of  the  earth  permanently  flooded  with  this  liquid  ?  Was 
so  large  an  evaporating  surface  required  to  supply  rain  to 
fertilize  the  soil  and  aid  in  breaking  down  mountains  ] 
Was  so  wide  a  receptacle  necessary  to  receive  the  debris 
washed  into  it  through  one  geological  period,  in  order  to 
digest  and  prepare  undisturbed  the  sediments  for  reap- 
pearance in  stratified  layers  in  another  ?  Had  it  special 
reference  to  aqueous  life,  or  was  it  determined  by  these 
and  by  other  requirements  ?  Whatever  it  was  that  led 
to  the  present  proportions  betwixt  land  and  water,  they 
are  doubtless  beneficial  in  the  highest  degree,  and  per- 
fectly fulfil  every  organic  and  inorganic  condition. 

Water  is  a  distinct  arena  for  man's  enterprise,  and  as 
such  it  has  incalculably  extended  the  range  of  his  thoughts 
and  of  his  acquisitions.  It  teems  with  substances  precious 


102  ANALOGIES    BETWEEN    SEAS   AND    LAND. 

to  him,  and  he  can  travel  over  it  easier  than  on  land.  It 
presents  no  impenetrable  thickets  nor  inaccessible  moun- 
tains ;  and  although  as  yet  the  basins  of  oceans  and  seas 
are  imperfectly  known,  the  same  remark  applies,  though 
in  a  less  degree,  to  many  of  the  great  slopes  of  continental 
valleys.  In  full  one  half  of  the  earth  there  remains  as 
much  to  be  explored  as  ir  rfome  of  the  seas.  Subaqueous 
researches  are  not  to  be  expected  of  man  in  the  morning 
of  his  career ;  still  he  has  turned  and  is  turning  his  atten- 
tion to  them.  Explorations  of  wrecks  and  other  matters 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  are  becoming  common  as  des- 
cents into  mines. 

Between  the  ocean  and  the  land  are  other  analogies ; 
the  face  of  the  former  varies  in  color  from  the  white  surf 
and  pale  green  along  shores,  to  olive  green  and  deep  blue 
further  out.  Sometimes  it  is  colorless  and  transparent,  at 
others  dull  and  opake.  The  Greenland  sea  changes  from 
ultramarine  blue  to  green  and  grey  ;  at  one  time  pellucid, 
and  muddy  at  another.  The  Mediterranean  puts  on  a 
purple  hue,  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  appears  white,  and  the 
waters  about  the  Maldives  look  black.  As  in  landscapes, 
the  colors  are  often  due  to  the  soil  and  to  surface  vegeta- 
tion. Then  the  surface,  as  on  shore,  is  broken  by  undu- 
lations, and  at  night  lit  up  by  phosphorescent  animal- 
cula — analogues  of  fire-flies.  Like  continents,  seas  and 
oceans  are  fertile  fields  of  labor,  and  in  some  respects  the 
most  profitable,  since  their  crops  are  raised  without  man's 
care,  and  he  has  only  to  reap  them,  as  in  Avhale,  seal,  cod, 
mackerel,  herring,  shad,  oyster,  salmon,  coral,  pearl,  and 
other  fisheries.  The  fecundity  of  the  ocean  equals,  per- 
haps surpasses,  that  of  the  land.  Its  contributions  to  the 


FISHERIES BIRDS.  103 

arts  are  numerous  and  unique,  while  the  streams  of  food 
it  turns  into  man's  garners  never  cease  to  flow.  The 
fishermen  of  one  nation  have  taken  in  one  season,  from 
the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  a  million  and  a  half  of  quin- 
tals of  one  kind  of  fish :  in  1853  United  States  whalers 
brought  in  363,191  barrels  of  whale  and  sperm  oil,  be- 
sides five  and  a  half  millions  of  pounds  of  whalebone.  In 
1850  the  English  home  fisheries  yielded  340,256  barrels 
of  herrings.  In  1852  the  Scotch  fishermen  took  112,000 
cwts.  of  cod  and  ling  (mostly  dried).  The  Dutch  fisheries 
probably  were  more  productive.  The  Scotch  fishermen, 
sent  3,192,672  Ibs.  of  salmon  to  London  in  1841.  Yet  all 
these  put  together  form  but  a  small  item  in  the  annual 
yield  of  the  deep  sea,  shore,  lake,  and  river  fisheries  of 
the  United  States,  and  an  insignificant  one  in  that  of  the 
earth's  fishery  as  a  whole. 

Birds  : — The  three  general  forms  of  matter  are  the  me- 
dia of  life  on  our  planet,  and  on  and  in  them  respectively 
flourish  the  three  great  cohorts  of  living  beings — of  crea- 
tures that  walk,  swim,  and  fly.  Air  and  water,  essential 
to  the  concrete  portion  of  the  earth,  presented  opportu- 
nities for  diversifying  the  forms  and  functions  of  life,  and 
of  immensely  swelling  the  amount  of  sensuous  enjoy- 
ment ;  hence,  without  affecting  the  applications  of  air 
and  water  to  other  purposes,  they  are  made  to  sustain  the 
tountless  hosts  that  live  in  them.  In  thus  doubling,  or 
perhaps  quadrupling  the  numbers  of  sensitive  creatures, 
the  beneficence  of  the  Creator  is  as  conspicuous  as  his 
wisdom  and  power. 

We  reluctantly  passed  over  the  grasses,  shrubs,  and 
trees,  without  alluding  to  them  as  the  abodes  of  what 


104  BIRDS    AND    THEIR    CONTRIBUTIONS 

many  consider  the  most  strongly  marked  and  attractive 
class  of  the  lower  tribes :  and  certainly,  birds  are  singu- 
larly captivating  in  their  forms,  colors,  and  movements, 
the  sweetest  of  songsters  and  the  cheerers  of  man  in  his 
labors.  Their  subdivisions  are  such  that  they  draw  plea- 
sure from  every  part  of  vegetation,  and  by  feeding  on  its 
enemies  they  are  its  great  conservators.  But  for  them 
the  earth  had  been  barren  as  granite  or  a  desert  of  sand  ; 
nor  had  there  been  a  man  living  to  till  it.  Scratchers 
seek  their  food  about  the  roots,  climbers  hunt  insects  in 
the  boles  and  stems,  perchers  feed  and  warble  on  the 
foliage,  waders  stalk  among  aquatic  plants,  while  swim- 
mers forage  in  deeper  water.  The  swallow  tribes  course 
insects  through  the  atmosphere ;  the  accipitrines  soar  over 
all,  prey  upon  all,  and  act  as  scavengers  for  all. 

Birds  do  not  elaborate  as  much  matter  for  manufac- 
turers as  quadrupeds,  but  as  protectors  of  vegetation 
the  value  of  their  labors  is  incalculable.  Besides  the 
flesh  and  eggs  of  those  used  as  food,  feathers  are  their 
chief  offering.  With  those  of  water-fowl,  pillows  and 
beds  are  stuffed ;  and  from  the  soft  delicacy  and  non-con- 
ducting properties  of  down,  it  also  is  employed  for  the 
same  purpose,  but  chiefly  for  various  articles  of  female 
attire  and  accompaniments — tippets,  boas,  muffs,  &c. 
Plumes  of  the  ostrich  and  of  other  birds  have  always 
been  worn  as  ornaments  and  insignia.  Fans  and  screens 
are  made  of  feathers,  and  entire  dresses  of  them  are  com- 
mon among  Indians.  From  the  variety  and  richness  of 
colors  in  which  birds  are  draped,  artificial  flc  wers  have, 
for  ages,  been  made  of  feathers. 

Quills  ha-.'e  been  split  and  made  into  cheap  and  dura- 


MECHANISM    OF    FEATHERS- -GUANO.  105 

ble  brushes,  and  also  into  hats  and  other  parts  of  dress. 
But  the  pen  is  the  most  memorable  application  of  the 
quill.  In  it  birds  have  contributed  more  than  all  other 
classes  to  what  has  been  deemed  the  highest  of  arts,  the 
recording  of  thought.  By  the  instruments  of  their  flight 
man  has  soared  into  higher  regions  than  the  material  at- 
mosphere. In  a  mechanical  and  engineering  view,  the 
structure  and  material  of  feathers  and  of  pinion  quills  are 
of  surpassing  interest.  Of  a  singular  composition  of  mat- 
ter and  moulded  into  peculiar  forms,  they,  the  latter  parti- 
cularly, combine  unequalled  strength  and  elasticity  with 
the  least  weight  of  material ;  the  qualities  required  in 
propelling  organs.  Every  feather  is  a  study  in  itself, 
and  in  the  mechanism  and  movements  of  wings  lessons  of 
the  highest  practical  value  are  to  be  learned. 

The  most  singular,  unexpected,  and  the  largest  contri- 
bution of  birds  to  the  arts  is  guano  :  a  substance  so  rich 
in  fertilizing  power  as  to  have  become  a  staple  item  in 
commerce,  and  to  afford  employment  for  ships  of  all  na- 
tions. In  it  the  economy  that  pervades  this  heritage  of 
ours  is  very  obvious.  Volcanic  and  other  rocks  appear 
here  and  there  in  the  midst  of  oceans.  Without  vegeta- 
tion no  land  animals  can  live  on  them,  but  they  are  the 
very  places  for  oceanic  birds  to  sleep  and  breed  on,  and 
for  amphibia  that  seek  dry  land  on  which  to  expire. 
Hence  guano  has  been  accumulating  on  islet  rocks  for 
unknown  periods  of  time,  and  is  now  dug  out  of  beds  va- 
rying from  50  to  100  feet  in  depth.  It  is  found  in  Afri- 
can and  Australian  islands  as  well  as  in  the  Pacific. 
Samples  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Van  Die- 
man's  Land  were  at  the  London  Exhibition.  Thus  have 

5» 


>06  INSECTS    MIRACLES    OF    MECHANISM. 

oceanic  birds,  in  remote  ages,  whom  men  never  saw,  been 
laying  up  material  for  us. 

The  varieties  of  birds  now  on  the  planet  are  unknown ; 
one  naturalist  has  recorded  3,800  species. 

Insects  are  interesting  as  birds.  The  most  unattrac- 
tive, if  fully  known,  would  appear  beautiful  as  golden 
pheasants.  A  bee,  a  minnow,  a  beetle,  and  a  common 
house-fly,  are  as  great  miracles  of  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal actions  and  motions  as  the  universe  itself  is.  Without 
irreverence,  we  may  believe  that  in  no  world  can  there  be 
more  wonderful  illustrations  of  what  mechanism  can  do. 
Statuaries  go  into  raptures  over  the  Elgin  marbles,  and 
old  men  and  youths  gaze  and  copy  their  moving  outlines 
of  horses  and  men,  while  inventors  turn  not  so  much  as 
an  eye  aside  to  study  infinitely  higher  lessons  that  con- 
cern and  are  daily  pressed  on  them.  The  time  will  come 
when  their  successors  will  be  sensible  of  the  advantages 
of  contemplating  the  chefs-d'oeuvre  of  God.  Had  the 
earth  produced  but  single  specimens  of  reptiles,  insects, 
fishes,  and  birds,  philosophers  would  have  gone  to  the 
antipodes  to  witness  their  movements  when  living,  and  to 
dissect  them  when  dead.  One  might  almost  be  tempted 
to  think  it  an  error  in  the  owner  of  the  earth  in  giving  us 
such  numbers  of  his  devices,  since  the  more  he  sends  the 
less  they  are  regarded.  But  the  days  of  sciolism  are 
passing,  and  men  will  seek  for  higher  lessons  in  manu- 
facturing mechanisms  than  they  learn  from  inorganic 
matter. 

Animals  are  elaborating  machines,  and  by  carefully 
studying  their  construction  and  their  actions,  we  iray  as- 
certain how  each  does  its  work,  and  imitate  it.  Theii 


SILK-WORMS    AND    THEIR    THREAD.  107 

organs  of  elaboration,  their  processes,  and  the  materials 
they  use  are  as  purely  mechanical,  chemical,  and  common, 
as  those  employed  in  artificial  works  ;  and  so  it  is,  that 
every  class,  order,  genus,  and  species  invites  us  into 
fields  of  knowledge  that  will  never  become  barren  of  me- 
chanical and  chemical  novelties ;  no,  not  if  harvests  be 
reaped  every  hour. 

As  yet  man  has  pressed  but  few  insects  into  his  ser- 
vice, because  his  limited  wants  and  researches  have  not 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  uses  of  ten 
thousand  substances  which  these  minute  and  most  dexte- 
rous and  delicate  of  elaborators  produce;  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, improbable  that  in  time  they  will  induce  as  great 
changes  in  the  artificial  as  they  have  induced  in  the  na- 
tural world.  No  works  on  earth  approach  in  magnitude 
and  durability  some  of  theirs ;  and  none  tend  more  fully 
to  illustrate  our  globe  as  one  vast  factory. 

Silk-worms  man  has  long  employed.  They  are  among 
the  most  industrious  and  profitable  of  his  assistants. 
The  fine,  soft,  and  hitherto  unparalleled  thread  they 
yield  him  is  extraordinary ;  it  were  futile  to  attempt  its 
measurement  by  yards,  or  even  leagues.  In  the  United 
States,  in  1850,  the  census  gives  only  10,843lbs,  while  in 
1844  the  amount  was  396,790  Ibs.*  We  know  not  what 
quantities  are  raised  in  Canada,  Mexico,  South  America, 
and  the  rest  of  this  western  hemisphere.  In  Great  Bri- 
tain, about  5,000,000  Ibs.  are  annually  worked  up  ;  in 
France,  much  morejt  then  large  quantities  are  raised 

*  Kennedy's  Abstract  of  the  Seventh  Census, 
•j-  Besides  the  quantity  manufactured  and  consumed  in  France, 
Ihe  enormous  amount  of  1,074,144  kilogrammes  of  raw  ani  thrown 


108  REFLECTIONS    ON    SILK-WORMS. 

and  woven  in  Austria,  Prussia,  Spain,  Portugal,  Greece, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  Holland,  Russia,  Turkey,  Persia,  &c. 
Yet  the  aggregate  product  of  Europe  and  America  must 
be  very  small  compared  to  that  spun  by  the  worms  of 
India,  China,  and  the  rest  of  Asia,  by  those  of  Africa 
and  Oceanica. 

Every  thing  about  these  creatures  is  surprising.  How 
singular  the  contrast  presented  by  their  delicate  natures 
and  ephemeral  duration  with  the  strength  and  durability 
of  their  products  !  No  sooner  are  they  grown  caterpillars, 
than  they  begin  their  filamental  bobbins,  and  they  live 
but  a  few  days  after  finishing  them — hastening  to  be  dis- 
solved in  air  to  make  room  for  fresh  legions.  But  the 
thread  they  leave  is  lasting.  Ladies'  silk-dresses,  after 
being  worn  through  life,  often  descend  as  heir-looms 
through  several  generations.  Then  what  is  more  remark- 
able than  their  numbers !  There  may  be  throughout 
the  world  fifty  millions  of  persons  engaged  more  or  less 
directly  in  the  manufacture  of  fibrous  materials.  Suppose 
one  tenth  of  our  living  species,  or  a  hundred  millions, 
thus  engaged.  That  number  is  truly  a  great  one,  but 
square  it — multiply  it  by  itself — and  the  quotient  would 
not  equal  the  hosts  which  the  Proprietor  of  this  factory 
has  sent  to  make  even  one  kind  of  thread  for  us.  And 
moreover,  swarming  as  they  do,  it  rests  with  us  to  multi- 
ply them,  and  that  indefinitely.  To  other  tribes  of  insect 
spinners  little  attention  has  yet  been  given. 

As  elaborators  of  rich  chemical  compounds,  bees  have 
from  early  times  been  kept  at  work  by  man.  The 

silk  was  exported  from  the  country  some  years  ago.  The  amcunt 
is  now  probably  much  greater. 


.     BEES    AND    HONEY — INSECT    DYES.  109 

amounts  of  wax  and  honey  they  yield  is  prodigious. 
Those  given  in  the  U.  States  seventh  census  are  alone 
at  hand,  and  certainly  do  not  represent  a  tithe  of  what 
might  be  procured.  Nearly  fifteen  millions  of  pounds  of 
wax  and  honey  are  given  as  the  product  for  the  year 
1850.  It  would  be  interesting  in  these  and  all  other  arti- 
cles, whether  of  food  or  clothing,  to  know  how  much  is  pro- 
duced and  how  much  might  be  produced,  that  by  dividing 
the  amounts  by  the  number  of  our  species  we  might 
ascertain  how  much  each  individual  receives  or  might 
receive. 

Dyes  are  mostly  from  other  departments,  but  not  alto- 
gether so.  The  famous  Tyrian  purple  of  old  was  obtained 
from  a  sea  shell.  The  modern  color  is  derived  from  an 
insect.  Besides  the  cochineal  the  grana  kermes  furnishes 
another  red  dye.  The  lac  dye  is  produced  on  trees  by 
an  order  of  insects.  The  amount  of  coloring  matter 
these  minute  creatures  furnish  is  also  remarkable.  Nearly 
two  millions  and  a  half  of  pounds'  weight  of  cochineal 
were  imported  into  England  in  1850,  and  over  two  mil- 
lions of  lac  dye.  Thus  some  of  our  richest  colors  are 
from  insects,  and  in  the  vegetable  world  from  lichens, 
masses  of  weeds — from  things  insignificant  and  worthless 
in  appearance. 

It  has  been  well  remarked  that  numbers  of  new  color- 
ing materials  have  been  in  late  times  discovered  and 
made  available ;  so  that  the  dyer  of  the  present  times 
employs  substances  of  the  existence  of  which  his  practi- 
cal predecessors  were  wholly  ignorant :  and  just  such 
remarks  will  be  made  hereafter  with  regard  not  to  our 
dyers  only,  but  to  almost  every  other  profession. 


110  PRODUCTION    OF    TRIPOLI. 

Is  it  asked  of  what  use  are  invisible  animated  molecules 
ever  likely  to  be  to  man  ?  What  effect  can  they  produce 
on  matter  serviceable  to  him  ?  Why,  there  are  examples 
of  the  accumulation  of  matter  by  them  that  are  perfectly 
startling — that  put  at,  utter  defiance  the  efforts  of  large 
animals  and  of  man  himself.  Ehrenberg  has  shown  that 
not  only  on  several  microscopic  infusoria  do  others  live 
as  parasites,  but  such  is  the  prodigious  power  of  develop- 
ment or  capability  of  division  of  the  gallionellse  that  in 
four  days  an  animalcule,  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  can 
form  two  cubic  feet  of  the  Bilin  polishing  slate,  or  tripoli ! 

It  may  have  occurred  to  the  reader  that  if  animals  were 
designed  to  supply  materials  for  man,  their  numbers  and 
developments  should  be  found  to  excel  within  the  human 
era,  and  to  inquire  whether  they  did  not  flourish  in  previ- 
ous ages  more  than  now.  The  interrogatory  is  pertinent. 

Naturalists  recognise  a  general  law  presiding  over  the 
animal  kingdom.  "  Each  group,  each  natural  order  or 
family,  the  history  of  which  has  been  investigated,  has 
manifestly  shown  a  development  parallel  to  that  of  indi- 
vidual life  :  1st,  an  early  period  corresponding  to  that  of 
youth,  during  which  the  group  has  but  a  small  number  of 
representatives :  2d,  a  period  of  full  development,  cor- 
responding to  that  of  the  adult,  during  which  the  group 
exhibits  the  greatest  diversity  which  was  in  its  power  to 
assume :  3d,  finally  there  is  a  period  of  decline,  corre- 
sponding to  old  age  and  fall,  during  which  the  individuals 
are  less  numerous.  In  the  class  of  Mammalia  there  are 
comparatively  few  groups  which  have  thus  reached  the 
third  part  of  their  history  and  passed  away  from  the 
earth.  The  majority  attained  their  period  of  fullest  de- 


WHAT   ELABORATORS    CAN    LEARN    FROM   NATURE.     Hi 

velopment  at  the  beginning  of  the  human  era,  and  are  actu- 
ally in  existence  upon  the  external  surrounding  crust  of 
our  planet."*  But  two  groups  are  known  to  be  on  the 
decline,  the  Pachydermata  and  Edentata.  At  the  same 
time,  the  most  useful  members  of  the  former  are  more 
numerous  now  than  at  any  former  period.  Thus  it  is 
found  that  animals  most  useful  to  man  passed  their  non- 
age just  previous  to  his  appearance.  The  noble  horse 
has  come  to  us  in  his  prime,  the  ox  also  and  the  sheep, 
the  deer  family  and  the  camel. 

So  far  as  known,  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  most  use- 
ful birds,  and  of  the  bee  and  silk  moth  among  insects, 

Some  ask,  what  elaborators  can  learn  from  the  organic 
world?  Almost  everything.  We  know  nothing,  or 
next  to  nothing,  of  the  principles  by  which  matter  is 
elaborated  in  wool,  hair,  feathers,  scales,  horn,  ivory,  &c., 
&c.,  nor  how  colors  are  evolved,  denned,  limited,  and 
mingled  in  the  bodies  of  animals,  birds,  and  flowers  :  how 
the  metallic  lustre  in  the  peacock  and  other  creatures  is 
produced,  how  perfumes  are  drawn  out  of  common  earth — 
in  a  word,  how  every  object  in  nature  is  produced  as  it 
is.  This  knowledge  is  to  be  acquired.  Man  is  not  for 
ever  to  be  empiric. 

*  Classification  of  Mammals,  by  Professor  C.  Girard,  Smithsonian 
Institution. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MOTIVE    POWERS. 

Now  provided  with  materials  and  with  knowledge  io  use 
them,  one  thing  more  was  wanted  to  render  the  factory  and 
its  facilities  complete.  Had  man  been  left  to  the  employ- 
ment of  his  own  muscular  power,  he  could  have  made 
little  progress  as  a  manufacturer.  His  stock  would  have 
been  vastly  too  large  for  him  to  work  up,  and  his  energies 
had  been  consumed,  as  in  semi-barbarism,  in  gross  labor  ; 
hence  the  crowning  gift  was  a  series  of  motive  agents,  by 
which  his  power  over  inert  matter  was  increased  immea- 
surably beyond  what  his  own  strength  could  have  effected, 
and  achievements  made  possible  that  otherwise  could  not 
have  been  imagined,  let  alone  attempted.  In  making 
this  assignment,  the  Proprietor  of  the  factory  completed 
his  share  of  the  contract — thenceforth  the  lessee  was  to 
perform  his. 

It  need  not  here  be  stated  with  what  facility  man  seizes 
and  employs  organic  and  inorganic  forces — how  the  weak 
and  the  strong,  the  willing  and  wayward,  the  fitful  and 
violent  obey  him — a  facility  he  never  could  have  acquired 
had  he  not  been  ordained  to  control  them.  Prime  movers 
are  the  prime  civilizers.  Without  them  the  natural  world 
had  be-en  dead,  and  the  artificial  one  stagnant.  Of  unli- 
mited and  lasting  applications,  their  sources,  like  those  of 
materials  they  are  employed  on,  can  never  be  dried  up  :  a 


ANIMAL    POWER— THE    HORSE,    OX,    CAMEL,    ETC.      113 

perpetual  necessity,  they  are  everlasting.  At  all  events 
while  the  earth  endures,  the  waves  and  tides  of  the  ocean, 
falling  and  running  waters,  atmospheric  pressure  and  cur- 
rents, animals,  steam,  electricity,  and  other  agents  will 
continue.  So  will  minor  and  local  sources  of  power,  as 
boiling  springs,  spouting  fonts,  burning  wells,  and  all 
surface  movements  arising  from  subterranean  heat  and 
action. 

Some  coal-pits  have  long  been  on  fire  in  Europe.  The 
combustion,  for  want  of  air,  goes  on  slowly.  In  Saxony 
the  heat  has  been  turned  to  account  by  market  gardeners, 
who,  in  favorable  spots,  locate  hot-beds,  and  raise  southern 
and  tropical  plants.  Thus,  observes  Kobell,  it  is  the 
strange  destiny  of  carbonized  remains  of  palms,  which 
flourished  in  long  lost  tropical  climates,  to  force  pine- 
apples at  the  present  day. 

The  greater  part  of  animal  power  at  present  employed 
is  drawn  from  the  equus  and  bos  genera.  Among  them 
are  the  most  valuable  of  laborers.  They  serve  man  over 
the  largest  part  of  the  habitable  globe,  but  there  are  wide 
districts  to  which  they  are  not  adapted,  and  there  others 
are  provided.  The  camel  family  is  specially  organized  to 
labor  in  deserts  :  it  is  the  sole  medium  of  communication 
between  those  countries  which  are  separated  by  seas  of 
hot  sand,  and  on  which  rain  seldom  or  never  falls.  In  the 
beautiful  and  expressive  metaphor  of  eastern  speech,  the 
camel  is  "  the  ship  of  the  desert,"  and,  in  truth,  it  is  the 
only  ship  by  which  the  wilderness  can  be  navigated  with 
certainty  and  safety.  In  hot  regions  the  elephant  toils 
for  man,  and  in  arctic  circles  reindeer  and  dogs.  The 
ancient  Peruvians  employed  dogs  as  well  as  the  llama. 


114  POWER    FROM    WAVES    AND    TREES. 

The  actual  animal  power  of  the  TJ.  States  in  1850  was 
represented  by  1,700,000  working  oxen,  4,336,719  horses, 
and  559,331  mules  and  jacks — upwards  of  six  millions 
and  a-half  of  animals  of  draught  and  burden. 

The  amount  of  water  and  wind  power  employed  in  the 
TJ.  States  is  not  known.  The  former  is  greater  than  in 
any  other  country. 

Mechanical  power  is  above  all  price,  and  yet  the 
amount  given  out  by  inanimate  matter  that  might  be 
used  is  utterly  incalculable.  That  which  is  ever  running 
to  waste  in  waterfalls  and  rapids  is  inconceivably  great. 
It  is  within  the  range  of  possibilities  that  the  ocean's  re- 
sistless waves  may  eventually  be  used  to  aid  in  the  pro- 
pulsion of  vessels,  and  do  other  work,  by  compressing  air 
into  chambers  opened  to  receive  their  impulse — that  is,  to 
employ  them  as  rising  and  falling  pistons,  in  inverted 
cylinders,  for  urging  it  into  proper  reservoirs. 

Then,  again,  in  fields  and  forests,  what  power  is  lost, 
though  presented  in  forms  more  tangible  and  'accessible 
than  in  waves.  A  plan  is  wanted  for  collecting  it  from 
swaying  boles  and  branches  :  one  possessing  the  proper- 
ties of  an  alleged  discovery  of  an  old  inventor,  by  which 
in  whatever  directions  the  primum-mobile  moved,  up  and 
down,  sideways  and  every  way,  the  desired  result  fol- 
lowed :  a  device  which,  working  day  and  night,  might 
accumulate  power  for  planters  and  others,  while  they 
slept. 

Trees  while  in  motion  give  out  more  power  in  a  windy 
day  than  would  cut  them  down  when  at  rest ;  and  in  all 
cases  power  proportioned  to  their  magnitudes.  Doubtless 
the  idea  of  using  such  power  will  appear  to  many  puerile 


STEAM    AN  I)    OTHEK    MOTIVE    AGENTS.  115 

and  visionary ;  but  for  all  that  it  is  practicable,  and  some 
day  if  not  in  ours,  will,  we  think,  be  turned  to  account. 
Farmers  will  not  then  neglect  long  swinging-levers  radiat- 
ing from  boles  around  their  homesteads,  but  make  them 
serve  as  pump-handles  for  raising  water  for  their  families 
and  cattle,  and  for  other  purposes.  Movable  windmills 
have,  at  great  expense,  been  put  up  to  do  what  a  single 
stout  stem,  or  two  or  more  united,  could  perform. 

The  mechanical  and  engineering  world  has  been  much 
excited  of  late  on  the  subject  of  an  efficient  new  motor ; 
a  desideratum  calculated  to  inaugurate  and  give  tone  to  a 
higher  civilization.  There  is  a  prevailing  vagueness  in 
the  minds  of  many  inventors  on  the  employment  of  heat 
as  a  motive  agent,  that  has  led  to  great  and  useless  out- 
lays of  thought,  money,  and  time.  They  forget  that  each 
pound  of  coal  can  only  give  out  its  equivalent  of  power, 
and  that  water,  air,  alcohol,  chloroform,  bicarbonate  of 
sulphur,  or  any  other  fluid  with  which  boilers  are  charged, 
are  mere  vehicles  or  media  for  employing  the  heat.  The 
heat  is  the  power,  and  all  that  can  be  accomplished  is 
economically  to  evolve  and  apply  it.  One  medium  may 
be  better  than  another,  still  power  comes  out  of  the  fuel. 

There  may  be  other  fluids,  natural  or  artificial,  that  pos- 
sibly may  prove  preferable  to  steam  in  particular  circum- 
stances, and  to  a  limited  extent.  We  know  not  wlu.t 
science  is  to  disclose,  and  it  would  be  unwise  to  assert 
that  a  better  one  is  not  to  be  had.  Still,  with  our  faith  in 
nature  as  a  guide,  and  that  on  so  momentous  a  question 
she  has  made  no  more  a  secret  of  a  general  agent  of 
poAver  than  of  the  materials  power  is  wanted  to  work  up, 
our  hopes  are  not  strong.  Steam  is  the  grand  medium 


116  HEAT   THE    GREAT    SOURCE    OF   POWER. 

she  uses.  By  it  she  produces  the  great  moving  powers 
upon  the  earth,  and  most  of  those  within  it.  And  as  if 
it  was  to  he  the  cheap  and  common  agent  in  the  arts,  she 
has  given  us  the  substance  from  which  it  is  evolved,  and 
the  means  of  evolving  it  in  the  largest  profusion — water 
and  fuel.  The  first  costs  nothing,  the  other  hut  little, 
and  that  little  will  be  less  as  the  vast  stores  become  opened. 
Engineers  have  yet  to  learn  how  direct  a  teacher  na- 
ture is. 

Another  idea  has  been  and  still  is  maintained,  that  heat 
can  be  used  as  a  motive  agent  over  and  over  again  :  in 
other  words,  that  power  can  repeat  itself.  Could  this  be 
established,  its  demonstration  would  be  cheaply  purchased 
by  an  outlay  of  millions  of  dollars  in  experiments. 

Mechanical  powers  being  the  result  of  matter  in  motion, 
are  comprised  in  two  general  divisions  :  1.  Such  as  come 
from  matter  put  in  motion  by  nature,  and,  2.  From  mat- 
ter excited  by  man.  Of  the  latter,  comparatively  few 
have  yet  been  developed.  Various  in  their  forms  and 
modes  of  action,  they  are  based,  as  all  must  be,  mediately 
or  immediately  on  heat.  The  glowing  sun  is  the  Great 
Prime  mover  in  the  natural  world ;  and,  that  we  might 
give  motion  to  mechanisms  where  natural  motors  are  in- 
applicable, we  have  been  furnished,  in  inflammable  ma- 
terials, with  the  means  of  kindling  artificial  suns.  Some 
motive  agents  may  appear  to  have  little  connexion  with 
heat,  as  gunpowder,  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  electro-mag- 
nets, but  the  power  of  all  is  referable  to  it.  Investigation 
would  show  that  their  energies  are  derived  from  the  heat, 
natural  and  artificial,  expended  on  their  ingredients  and 
application.  In  fuel,  then,  is  laid  up  man's  chief  store  of 


ADAPTATION  OF  THE  EARTH'S  SURFACE  TO  COMMERCE.  117 

artificially  excited  power,  and  here  we  again  perceive  the 
intentions  of  the  Creator  in  what  have  been  named  "  car- 
boniferous periods,"  when  vegetation  was  so  rife  and  active 
in  elaborating  coal  for  us.  If  the  earth  shows  foot-prints 
of  the  deity,  coal  strata  bear  the  impress  of  his  hands. 
He  has  legibly  written  on  them,  "  To  artisan  man." 
(See  Chapter  4,  Section  II.,  for  Mechanical  Forces.) 

Before  closing  this  division  of  the  subject,  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  earth's  surface  to  facilitate  a  general  exchange 
of  the  results  of  labor  should  not  be  overlooked.  It  is  a 
system  of  intercommunications.  There  are  few  inacces- 
sible districts ;  its  high  and  low  lands,  its  seas  and  rivers, 
are  open  passages  for  intercourse  with  every  part.  They 
are  natural  roads  and  canals,  which  have  suggested  the 
diversities  of  land  and  water  carriages,  and  means  of  pro- 
pelling them.  But  mountains  obstruct  the  traveller's 
path  ?  Not  more  so  than  piles  of  lumber,  coal  and  ores 
in  builders'  and  founders'  yards,  interrupt  the  walk  of  their 
proprietors.  Natural  elevations  are  stores  of  unwrought 
goods,  and  is  it  not  better  to  turn  aside  and  pass  round  or 
between  them,  than  to  be  without  them  ?  They  may 
appear  to  us  utterly  exhaustless,  and  some  perhaps  of  no 
use,  but  we  live  in  early  times  ;  a  thousand  centuries  are 
nothing  in  the  life  of  the  world  :  they  will  all  be  cut 
down  and  used  up  by  our  successors,  and  others  will  be 
raised  for  workmen  that  will  succeed  them. 

As  to  oceanic  obstacles  to  free  communion,  they  are 
imaginary,  and  belong  to  early  phases  of  civilization. 
Navigation  has  been  attained,  and  we  can  imagine  how 
limited  without  it  trade  would  be  ;  how  many  arts  would 
be  unknown,  and  even  incomprehensible,  if  there  had 


118       MAN   EXCLUDED   FROM   THE   POLAR    CIRCLES. 

been  no  locomotion  but  on  solid  ground ;  and  how  bald 
and  poverty-stricken  our  fund  of  ideas,  if  deprived  of 
those  that  arise  from  the  terraqueous  character  of  our 
orb. 

There  are,  however,  two  portions  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face from  which  man  is  excluded — the  polar  circles. 
They  are  evidently  not  intended  as  arenas  for  human  ex- 
ertions. Their  functions  have  reference  chiefly  to  gene- 
ral temperature  and  ventilation.  They  promote  a  healthy 
circulation  by  drawing  towards  them  the  heated  vapors 
of  the  torrid  regions ;  they  induce  aqueous  as  well  as  at- 
mospheric currents ;  and  they  afford  secure  retreats  for 
swarms  of  fish,  and  other  creatures.  It  is  well  for  these 
that  man  is  shut  out,  since  he  has  hunted  some  of  them 
in  the  open  oceans  till  they  have  become  few,  and  were 
his  present  eager  pursuit  of  them  within  the  arctic  and 
antarctic  zones  not  arrested,  they  would  inevitably  be 
exterminated.  At  all  events,  the  enduring  barriers  of  ice 
are  not  simple  incidents  of  climate,  but  organic  features  in 
the  economy  of  the  planet. 

In  conclusion  :  To  meet  man's  wants  through  the  en- 
tire cycle  of  his  destinies,  to  furnish  employment  for  the 
varied  world  of  thought  within  him,  to  keep  pace  with 
his  enlarging  grasp  and  power,  it  was  necessary  that 
suitable  materials,  and  objects,  and  forces,  and  theatres 
of  action  should  be  provided  for  him.  And  so  it  is,  that 
there  is  no  substance,  quality,  or  condition  of  matter  but 
what  tends  to  further  his  operations  as  a  manufacturer ; 
none  which  does  not  exhibit  the  world  as  a  factory,  and 
him  in  charge  of  it ;  and  which  does  not  show  that  such 
was  the  grand  scope  and  design  of  the  Creator  in  prepar- 


DURATION    OF    THE    EARTH    AS    A    FACTORY.         11& 

ing  it,  and  placing  him  on  it.  The  wonderful  processes 
through  which  this  factory  has  passed,  to  make  it  what  it 
is,  and  the  time  required  for  them,  indicate  its  duration. 
It  has  cost  too  much  for  a  temporary  workshop  or  shed — 
the  Divine  mechanician  uses  none  such — too  much  to  he 
destroyed  hefore  its  elaborated  treasures  are  worked  up,  or 
its  resources  half  understood.  No  engineer  erects  a 
costly  structure,  furnishes  it  with  expensive  machinery, 
and  ere  it  he  put  in  successful  operation,  tears  it  ruth- 
lessly down ;  much  less  can  it  be  supposed  that  the 
Builder  of  this  splendid  one  will. act  in  like  manner.  For 
countless  ages  it  has  been  in  the  sole  possession  of  the 
lower  tribes,  whose  presence  and  labors  were  necessary 
to  prepare  it  for  man.  Surely  the  periods  it  is  to  be 
under  the  control  of  him  for  whom  it  was  chiefly  made, 
cannot  be  less.  The  period  of  occupancy  will  be  pro- 
portioned to  that  of  preparation,  and  as  one  has  been,  so 
will  the  other  be — diuturnal. 

To  meet  objections  that  may  possibly  be  taken  to  the 
foregoing  views  of  the  earth,  as  partial  and  contracted,  it 
may  be  well  to  state  here,  that  it  is  not  pretended  that 
materials  in  mountains,  for  example,  were  raised  solely  for 
manufacturing  facilities.  Every  person  knows  that  these 
elevations  diversify  climate,  temperature,  vegetable  and 
animal  products,  and  life.  The  ocean,  as  the  high- 
way of  nations,  interferes  not  with  it  as  the  home  of 
special  orders  of  animals,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
the  land.  So  also  with  regard  to  the  central  fire  engine ; 
besides  elevating  materials  for  man,  it  performs  innume- 
rable other  functions,  in  accordance  with  a  cardinal  law 
of  the  planet  (and  of  the  universe),  that  nothing  exists 


120  THE  EARTH  APPROPRIATELY  NAMED  A  FACTORY. 

or  subsists  for  itself,  or  for  one  purpose.  Everything, 
from  a  mountain  to  a  fly,  is  influenced  by  the  whole,  and 
reacts  on  the  whole.  But  this  does  not  in  anywise  con- 
flict with  the  predominating  characteristic  we  have  as- 
cribed to  the  earth.  Is  there  any  other  designation  so 
comprehensive  and  literally  appropriate  and  true  ? 


SECTION  H. 

OF  MAN;    HIS   NATURE,   INSTINCTS,    AND    ACHIEVE- 
MENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MAN'S    FORM    AND   STRUCTURE    INDICATE    THE   ARTIFICER. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  man  himself,  and  see  if  his  form  and 
structure,  instincts  and  achievements,  do  not  indicate  the 
nature  and  purposes  of  his  being.  Observe  the  perfect 
freedom  of  his  upper  limbs  to  operate  on  matter,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  being  released  from  the  labor  of  sus- 
taining the  body  and  aiding  in  its  locomotion ;  a  feature 
peculiar  to  his  species,  and  the  one  which  specifically  pro- 
claims him  an  artisan.  Mark  the  termination  of  those 
limbs  in  the  hands  ;  the  adaptation  of  these  to  work  in 
all  substances,  their  duality,  the  double-jointed  levers  they 
are  attached  to,  their  lithe  and  diverse  movements,  their 
power  to  grasp  objects  of  every  shape,  their  durability 
under  incessant  wear  and  tear ;  the  articulations  of  the 
wrist  and  fingers  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  always  moving 
the  arm  with  them,  and  of  a  consequent  waste  of  power  ; 
the  sense  of  touch  in  the  fingers,  so  exquisite  and  so 

6 


122        MAN  CREATED  FOR  AN  ARTIFICER. 

active  in  a  thousand  acts.  In  the  large  development  of 
the  thumb  man's  superiority  as  a  manipulator  largely  con- 
sists ;  it  has  been  named  a  second  hand.  Still,  it  was  in 
the  unoccupied  levers  at  whose  extremities  the  fingers 
are,  that  his  instincts  as  an  artisan  resided,  and  through 
which  they  have  been  manifested.  Had  those  levers  been 
employed  as  in  their  nearest  analogues,  man  had  been  at 
best  but  an  improved  orang-otang,  but  in  disengaging  them 
from  other  service,  and  placing  them  as  it  were  like 
laborers  in  the  market-place  waiting  to  be  employed,  the 
Creator  gave  us  in  them  the  prime  instruments  of  our  ele- 
vation. 

Wonderful  as  are  the  capabilities  of  the  manipulating 
organs  of  many  of  the  lower  tribes,  they  do  not  equal  in 
number  and  diversity  those  of  the  human  hand.  In  this 
instrument  man's  superiority  is  as  marked  as  in  any  other, 
while  it  indicates  with  unerring  precision  what  the  chief 
employment  of  his  earthly  existence  was  to  be. 

If  we  revert  to  his  entrance  into  the  world,  we  shall 
be  led  to  the  conviction  that  he  is  created  an  artisan,  and 
sent  here  to  exercise  his  vocation.  What  were  the  things 
on  which  he  opened  his  eyes,  and  which  continued  through 
life  to  arrest  his  attention,  but  those  of  a  factory  crowded 
with  work  !  "  All  things,"  saith  the  Preacher,  "  are  full 
of  labor,"  and  so  full  that  man  cannot  utter  it.  The 
more  he  observed  the  earth,  the  more  he  found  it  the 
theatre  of  ceaseless  manufacturing  activities  : — Its  forces, 
chemical,  electrical,  and  mechanical,  latent  and  palpable, 
imperceptible  and  overpowering,  never  sleep.  Without 
intermission,  they  are  converting  elemental  matter  into 
animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral,  into  solid,  liquid,  and 


HE   IS    BORN    AND    BROUGHT    UP    AS    ONE.  123 

gaseous  bodies — ever  breaking  up  and  renewing  them* 
Every  foot  of  it  is  paved  with  influences  that  are  decom- 
posing ingredients  of  worn-out  fabrics,  preparatory  to 
their  being  again  made  up  into  similar  things,  or  in  gather- 
ing them  up  for  other  commodities.  There  is  no  suspen- 
sion of  the  work  on  account  of  the  moving-machinery,  no 
waste  of  power,  and  no  refuse  material — not  a  scrap  but 
what  is  worked  up.  The  supply  keeps  pace  with  the 
demand,  and,  as  with  human  merchandise,  the  goods  vary 
with  what  they  are  made  of,  and  their  style  with  changes 
of  times  and  seasons  : — a  perfectly  organized  manufactur- 
ing establishment. 

Born  and  brought  up  in  the  busy  scene,  confined  for 
life  to  it,  having  no  ideas  but  what  are  derived  from  it — 
a  true  factory  child — what  else  could  he  do  but  in  the 
theatre  of  action  assigned  him  imitate 

"The  Great  Artificer  of  all  that  moves!" 

His  instincts,  organization,  and  condition  defined  his  pro- 
fession, and  compelled  him  to  assume  it.  In  no  other 
capacity  could  he  work  his  mission  out.  He  saw  that  the 
Proprietor  had  furnished  him  with  raw  materials,  not  with 
finished  goods.  He  had  corn,  but  no  bread ;  fuel,  not 
furnaces  ;  clay,  but  neither  bricks  nor  tiles  ;  sand,  but  not 
glass ;  textile  substances  were  supplied,  but  he  was  to 
convert  them  into  plain  and  ornamental  fabrics  :  iron  was 
given,  but  not  in  bars.  The  properties  of  alloys  he  was 
to  find  out,  and  discover  the  means  of  producing  a  prime 
material  for  cutting  implements  and  tools.  He  essayed 
these  things,  and  succeeding,  his  natural  career  opened 
before  him. 


124  THE    SPECIES    DIVIDED    INTO    RACES. 

As  no  factory  involving  a  multiplicity  of  operations  can 
be  carried  on  without  diversity  of  talents  in  the  work- 
men, so  this  diversity  is  a  prominent  feature  of  the  plan, 
on  which  this  earthly  workshop  has  been  established. 
If  the  work  given  to  man  was  to  be  uniform  in  its  charac- 
ter and  applications,  if  it  was  to  be  limited  in  its  kind  and 
stationary  in  its  results,  no  difference  in  the  qualifications 
of  operatives  would  have  been  requisite.  When  once 
the  tasks  were  learned,  nothing  would  be  wanting  but 
instinctive  repetitions  of  them.  The  establishment  would 
resemble  one  of  those  mills  in  which  certain  kinds  of 
goods  only  are  fabricated,  and  where  certain  sets  of  ideas 
suffice  for  the  fabricators  :  all  would  think  and  act  alike, 
and  tameness  and  sameness  pervade  the  whole.  But  if 
the  productions  were  to  be  varied  like  those  of  nature, 
then  equal,  that  is  endless,  diversity  in  the  capacities  and 
tastes  of  the  elaborators  was  essential,  and  hence  it  is 
that  no  two  individuals  are  in  these  and  other  respects 
the  same  ;  thus  variety  is  the  law  of  human  arts,  because 
it  is  the  law  of  human  perceptions. 

Besides  this,  the  Creator  has  divided  the  species  into 
races  or  varieties,  distinguished  them  by  organization 
and  color,  and  marked  diversities  of  intellect  in  them  by 
these  also.  Is  it  asked,  why  these  subdivisions  and  dis- 
tinctions ?  In  the  first  place,  they  characterize  every 
genus  and  species  of  physical  beings.  Climate  and  cli- 
matic productions  seem  to  call  for  them ;  certain  animals, 
as  well  as  plants,  flourish  only  in  certain  localities  and 
latitudes,  and  so  it  is  with  human  tribes.  It  may  there- 
fore be  inferred  that  differences  in  the  physique  of  men 
were,  among  other  reasons,  ordained  to  meet  differences 


CLIMATES    OF    COLORED    MEN    RICH    IN    MATERIAL.  125 

of  climate,  and  though  mind  of  itself  may  have  nothing 
in  common  with  matter,  its  discipline  and  developments 
are  materially  affected  by  the  things  upon  which  and  the 
circumstances  under  which,  it  is  exercised.  While  its 
nature  is  everywhere  the  same,  it  may  be  germinating 
as  a  seed  among  weeds  in  one  zone,  in  another  as  a  shrub 
throwing  out  fresh  leaves,  and  in  another  rising  into  a 
vigorous  tree. 

The  climates  of  colored  men  are  all  rich  in  materials 
for  the  arts,  while  on  them  they  have  expended  little 
thought — much  less,  it  is  said,  than  might  have  been 
expected.  This  is  simply  because  progress  made  by 
other  races  has  not  reached  them.  No  race  can  progress 
of  itself,  and  no  one  is  independent  of  another ;  a  chain  of 
obligations  and  advantages  unites  all.  The  one  that  is 
lower  in  the  scale  than  another  is  waiting  for  assistance 
from  without.  We  are  too  apt  to  contemplate  the  man 
of  Africa  in  an  isolated  position,  and  expect  him  to  origi- 
nate and  prosecute  improvements  independently  of  others ; 
whereas,  taking  all  things  into  view,  he  is  no  more 
obnoxious  to  reproof  for  non-progress  than  the  whites. 
It  is  but  yesterday,  comparatively,  that  most  of  them 
emerged  from  rank  barbarism. 

Another  reason  for  the  creation  of  races  we  may  pre- 
sume had  reference  to  the  furtherance  of  the  work  by 
dividing  it,  and  assigning  such  parts  to  each  as  each  was 
best  adapted  to  perform.  This  is  so  beneficial,  so  obvi- 
ous and  natural  a  process,  that  it  is  evolved  more  or  less 
in  all  communities.  In  factories  men  are  selected  for 
their  fitness  for  particular  performances,  that  skill  and 
intellect  may  not  be  consumed  where  not  wanted,  and 


126        MENTAL    CAPACITY    NOT    UNIFORM    IN    RACES. 

that  the  work  might  not  suffer  by  incapacity  taking  the 
place  of  talent.  Were  there  no  variations  of  mental 
capacity  and  disposition  the  world  would  be  in  a  perpe- 
tual uproar.  Like  ambitious  players,  few  would  be  satis- 
fied with  the  parts  assigned  them.  If  all  were  engineers, 
who  Avould  attend  to  the  furnaces  ?  But  the  Creator  has 
settled  all  by  graduating  intellect  and  temperament  so  as 
perfectly  to  meet  all  contingencies. 

But  why  should  not  mental  capacity  be  uniform  in  the 
species,  if  even  its  development  be  unequal  in  races  1  The 
answer  is  in  the  fact,  there  is  gradation  in  all  things.  In- 
telligence diminishes  from  God  to  man ;  and  from  man  it 
flows,  or  seems  to  flow,  in  constantly  narrowing  channels, 
down  to  vanishing  points  in  the  lowest  phases  of  animated 
matter.  In  passing  through  species,  as  through  genera, 
it  continues  its  resemblance  to  a  conical  tube  which  at  no 
two  points  is  of  equal  capacity.  This  inequality  in 
human,  as  in  lower  families,  shows  that  economy  in  the 
outlay  of  reasoning  and  perceptive  faculties  is  as  much 
a  natural  law  as  in  the  expenditure  of  external  materials 
and  forces.  No  greater  capacity  is  given  than  can  be 
employed.  Where  less  is  given  the  work  requires  less, 
and  hence  variation  in  human  races  implies,  as  in  the  ani- 
mal world,  variation  in  their  work.  Of  necessity,  supe- 
rior intelligence,  whether  in  nations  or  races,  will  always 
rule.  Were  the  Creator  surpassed  in  knowledge,  he  would 
cease  to  reign  :  nor  is  there  any  ground  for  dissatisfaction 
here,  since  inequality  is  a  law  pervading  all  orders  of 
beings.  If  the  tube  be  slightly  larger  on  one  side  it  is 
smaller  on  the  other,  and  there  is  no  end  to  it  in  either 
direction.  There  are  as  marked  disparities  in  dark  as  in 


NO   LIMITS   TO    IMPROVEMENT   OF    RACES.  127 

light-colored  races,  and  there  are  black  tribes  equal  if  not 
superior  in  capacity  to  some  other  varieties.  Color  alone 
is  not  the  criterion  of  intelligence. 

Many  persons,  in  their  denunciations  of  slavery,  erro- 
neously insist  on  an  original  or  innate  equality  of  mental 
capacity  in  all  varieties  of  men,  and  that  all  may  be 
brought  to  the  same  actual  level ;  but  no  such  anomaly 
in  creation  can  ever  be.  It  would  be  fraught  with  evil. 
There  would  be  an  end  to  progress,  and  to  all  stimulus  to 
progress.  But  this  absence  of  uniformity  in  races  neither 
prevents  nor  limits  improvement.  They  will  advance  in 
their  order.  The  lowest  may  accomplish  the  same  things 
as  the  highest,  but  not  in  the  same  era  or  age.  Pioneer 
races  will  take  the  lead,  and  communicate  the  impulse  of 
new  movements  to  those  in  the  rear.  The  human  sloe, 
will  become  a  plum,  and  the  almond  a  peach ;  but  if  the 
colored  people  of  the  earth  attain  in  the  course  of  time 
all  that  white  men  have  now  acquired,  there  may  then 
be  as  great  a  difference  between  them  as  there  is  now. 
Cultivation  works  wonders,  but  it  cannot  break  down 
natural  distinctions.  In  nations  society  is  made  up  of 
classes  :  in  society  at  large  races  form  the  classes  ;  and  as 
in  enlightened  countries  people  generally  have  acquired 
conveniences  that  were  formerly  deemed  luxuries  for 
rulers,  so  it  will  be  with  races. 

It  is  a  scriptural  doctrine  that  knowledge  is  to  cover 
the  earth,  and  so  it  will ;  but  neither  knowledge  nor  its 
fruits  can  at  any  time  be  everywhere  the  same.  Grada- 
tion will  ever  characterize  the  face  of  the  planet.  One 
district  will  be  in  advance  of  others  as  long  as  one  race 
precedes  others.  As  a  whole  it  will  be  improved,  but  not 


128  WORKMEN    FOR    EVERY   ZONE. 

equally  in  its  parts  : — a  beautiful  provision,  since  if  the 
arts  and  sciences  were  equally  cultivated,  there  would  be 
no  exchange  of  knowledge  in  them,  and  little  to  foster 
national  intimacies  and  universal  brotherhood.  The 
great  social  bond  between  peoples  and  countries  would 
be  vitally  weakened,  if  not  broken.  Whether  the  earth's 
colored  artisans  will  ultimately  and  exclusively  hold  their 
native  homes,  and  prosecute  the  great  work  of  civilization 
by  themselves,  time  only  can  tell.  It  seems  natural  that 
it  should  be  so  ;  but  communication  with  other  races  will 
always  be  indispensable.  Universal  progress  can  only 
arise  from  and  be  maintained  by  universal  intercourse. 

The  plasticity  of  the  human  constitution  is  very  great, 
but  there  is  no  probability  that  the  white  race  can  of 
itself  carry  and  sustain  progressive  civilization  over  the 
tropical  belt — hence  the  wisdom  that  has  provided  work- 
men for  every  zone.  It  is  the  belief  of  many  that  white 
men  slowly  but  certainly  degenerate,  physically  and  men- 
tally, as  they  approach  the  tropics.  The  fact,  if  it  be 
one,  is  a  proof  that  races  can  only  permanently  flourish 
in  the  zones  to  which  they  are  indigenous. 

We  have  so  long  been  accustomed  to  contemplate  man- 
kind as  one  family,  of  one  date  and  place  of  birth,  uniform 
in  innate  capacity,  and  ordained  to  the  same  earthly  des- 
tiny, that  it  seems  to  many  wrong  to  speak  of  races, 
differing  as  much  in  the  periods  and  places  of  their  advent 
as  in  their  organization.  There  is  no  difference  of  opinion 
about  the  fact  of  sections  of  the  earth's  surface  maturing 
in  different  epochs,  involving  intervals  of  incalculable 
duration ;  the  question  is,  were  these  sections  colonized 
from  older  ones,  or  were  they  independent  centres  of 


RACES  NOT  OF  ONE  DATE.  129 

human  and  animal  life  ?  As  respects  the  inferior  tribes 
there  seems  little  room  for  doubt,  since  sections  of  most 
recent  formations  have  animals  peculiar  to  them,  and  such 
as  correspond  with  fossil  analogues  of  other  lands  when 
in  the  same  stage  of  geological  development :  nowhere 
else  extant,  they  could  not  have  been  brought  in  from 
abroad.  There  appears  also  ground  for  applying  a  like 
remark  to  the  human  occupants.  If  they  were  emigrants 
they  should  indicate  whence  they  came,  and  the  people 
to  whom  they  belonged ;  instead  of  which  they  exhibit 
characteristics  of  distinct  races — of  varieties  neither  allied 
to  nor  to  be  merged  in  others  ;  such  as  the  men  of  Africa, 
of  America,  and  of  Australia.  The  last  named  country 
is  allowed  to  be  of  the  latest  formation,  and  the  latest 
occupied ;  and  there,  man  appears  in  the  lowest  forms  of 
humanity,  and  is  associated  with  the  lowest  types  of  ani- 
mals and  plants.  According  to  the  colonial  theory,  the 
latest  colonized  countries  should  bear  definite  evidence  of 
at  least  some  degree  of  a  civilized  origin. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ORDER  OF  MAN'S  APPEARANCE  ON  THE  EARTH'S  GREAT 
SECTIONS. 

WE  know  from  the  earth  itself  that  man  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  different  countries  at  different  times,  though 
whence  and  how  he  reached  them  we  have  nothing  con- 

6* 


130  RACES    AND    THEIR    BREAD    PLANTS. 

elusive.  We  can  however  trace,  and  with  every  indica- 
tion of  certainty,  the  geographical  and  chronological 
order  of  his  entrance  on  the  earth's  great  sections,  in  the 
indigenous  vegetables  and  animals  of  each.  We  know 
that  the  country  of  the  ornithorhynchus  and  kangaroo  is 
passing  through  processes  of  development  which  Europe 
and  Asia  myriads  of  ages  ago  underwent,  and  that  where 
the  opossum  still  lingers  the  country  is  of  more  recent 
formation  than  the  eastern  continents ;  and  therefore  it  is 
inferable  that  the  red  man  is  of  a  later  origin  than  the 
white  man,  and  the  tribes  of  New  Holland  younger  than 
those  of  the  Americas. 

Then,  there  is  an  observable  and  characteristic  connex- 
ion between  the  races  and  their  bread  plants  :  the  latter 
rise  in  the  scale  of  development  with  the  former.  The 
Caucasian  had  the  highest  of  the  cereals — wheat ;  the 
Mongolian,  rye  and  buckwheat ;  the  Malayan,  rice ;  the 
African,  millet ;  the  American,  maize  and  mandioca ;  the 
Polynesian,  yams ;  while  the  Australian  had  not  at- 
tained to  so  much  as  the  cultivation  of  roots,  much  less 
that  of  grains ;  and  was,  moreover,  without  a  single  one 
of  the  species  of  quadrupeds  essential  to  civilization. 

Facts  not  unfavorable  to  the  hypothesis  of  several  cen- 
tres of  population,  may  be  found  in  the  absence  of  uni- 
formity in  staple,  primitive  arts.  Ideas  common  to  the 
species  are  often  wrought  out  differently  by  races,  and  so 
differently  as  to  show  that  no  connexion  could  have  ori- 
ginally existed  between  the  parties.  As  might  be  sup- 
posed, the  conceptions  are  found  further  developed  on 
the  older  than  on  the  later  continents.  A  few  examples 
are  added. 


ABSENCE    OF   UNIFORMITY    IN    PRIMITIVE    ARTS.     131 

1.  In  spinning,  the  device  of  the  Aztecs,  Mexicans, 
Peruvians,  and  their  descendants,  varies  so  much  from 
that  of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  as  to  be  irreconcilable  with 
a  knowledge  of  the  latter,  or  of  its  users.     The  spindle, 
instead  of  being  suspended  by  the  thread,  and  whirling 
free  in  air,  was  and  is  spun  round,  like  a  top  on  its  peg, 
in  a  fixed  or  movable  cavity.     Moreover,  the  distaff,  an 
inseparable  part  of  the  oriental  apparatus,   was  wholly 
unknown  to  occidental  spinsters.* 

2.  The  amount  of  pottery  made  by  old  Americans  is 
almost   inconceivable.      It   is   found   scattered  over  the 
greater  part  of  New  Mexico,  and  in  some  parts  abounds 
on   the  surface  continuously  for  from  twenty  to  forty 
miles.     Most  of  it,  and  much  of   that  made  in  Central 
America  and  Peru,  indicates  correct  taste  in  forms  and 
styles  of  ornament.     Now  the  whole  was  fashioned  with- 
out the  potter's  wheel;  an  instrument  dating  behind  the 
dawn  of  history,  in  the  eastern  hemisphere.     The  Egyp- 
tians represented  "  Amun,  the  Creator,"  forming  worlds 
upon  it,  and  turning  it  with  his  foot.     The  only  aid  to  the 
fingers  attained  by  the  advanced  nations  of  America  con- 
sisted of  moulds  by  which  shallow  vessels  were  modelled 
whole,  and  others  in  halves  and  smaller  portions,  which 
were  united  while  the  clay  remained  plastic.     Nearly  all 
vases  into  Avhieh  the  hand  could  not  be  introduced,  were 
thus   made.     The   lower   portions  of  small  vases  were 
formed  in  moulds,  and  the  necks  gathered  in  by  hand. 

*  See  the  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Patents, 
for  1850,  Part  I.,  for  an  article  on  this  subject ;  and  a  paper  on  Abo- 
riginal Arts  and  Artisans,  with  illustrations  from  Mexican  paint- 
ings, in  the  fourth  volume  of  Schoolcraft's  national  work  on  the  In- 
dian Tribes. 


132     PRIMITIVE    ARTS    INDEPENDENTLY    DEVELOPED. 

3.  Another  example  is  furnished  by  the  quern,  or  hand- 
mill,  which  was   as  common  in  the  eastern  half  of  the 
world,  ages  before  Solomon  or  Homer,  Moses  or  Job 
spoke  of  it,  as  in  subsequent  times.     The  red  race  never 
knew  it.     They  had  the  pestle  and  mortar,  its  remote 
predecessor ;  and  some  had  realized  its  immediate  fore- 
runner— a  large,  flat  stone,  and  a  smaller  or   movable 
one  for  the  hands,  to  push  to  and  fro.     Between  these 
corn  was  ground.     By  inclining  the  body,  so  as  to  throw 
its  weight  on  the  hands,  the  operation  was  tolerably  effi- 
cient, but  exceedingly  laborious.     Such  was  and  still  is 
the  mill  of  the  most  advanced  of  American  tribes.* 

4.  Besides  the  absence  of  the  distaff,  potter's  wheel, 
and  quern,  another  domestic  implement  should  perhaps 
be  named — the  lamp.     It  seems  almost  impossible  that 
the  people  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  Peru,  could 
have  made  the  progress  they  did  in  the  arts,  and  be  with- 
out artificial  lights  in  their  dwellings,  except  what  they 
had  from  slips  of  resinous  woods.     And  yet   I  am  not 
aware  that  any  such  thing  as  a  lamp  or  a  candle  has  been 
found  in  ancient  graves,  or  dug  out  of  the  ruins  of  Aztec 
cities. 

These  are  simple  facts,  but  they  furnish  pretty  strong 
evidence  that  civilization  was  as  independently  developed 
on  this  part  of  the  earth  as  on  any  other  part. 

Again,  if  the  Australian  continent  were  peopled  from 
an  older  one,  indications  of  the  arts  of  the  latter  should, 


*  See  a  representation  of  women  of  Zuni,  New  Mexico,  grinding 
corn  with  their  native  mill,  in  Captain  Sitgreave's  Report  of  "An 
Expedition  down  the  Zuni  and  Colorado  rivers;"  published  by 
order  of  Congress.  Washington,  1853 


THE    ARTS    RESULTS    OF    ORGANIZATION.  133 

as  already  suggested,  appear  and  even  abound.  But, 
instead  of  this,  the  people  have  no  traditions  and  no  arts 
— neither  spinning,  pottery,  nor  even  the  mortar ;  and 
yet,  as  if  to  strengthen  the  hypothesis,  they  have  realized 
a  device  in  the  boomerang  which,  it  is  believed,  has  no 
prototype  in  other  lands.  The  throw-stick  of  the 
Egyptians  and  other  ancient  (and  modern)  people  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  in  the  least  allied  to  this  singular 
missile. 

It  has  long  been  the  fashion  to  consider  the  primary 
arts  as  descended  from  one  source.  They  may  have 
come  from  one  to  us,  but  so  far  from  being  exclusively 
due  to  any  one  people,  they  are  the  natural  fruit  of  human 
organization  in  all  lands.  If  a  second  cataclysm  were  to 
sweep  mankind  off  to-morrow,  except  one  family,  they 
would  be  revived  independently  of  any  previous  know- 
ledge of  them,  just  as  would  those  of  the  bee  and  the 
beaver.  Were  it  not  for  a  feeling  allied  to  pride,  the 
construction  of  huts,  evolving  fire,  ensnaring  game,  and 
cooking  food,  spinning,  weaving,  canoes,  and  other  de- 
vices more  or  less  common  to  barbarians,would  be  admitted 
to  be  suggestions  of  instinct,  just  as  contrivances  not 
inferior  to  them  are  conceded  to  emanate  from  the  same 
principle  in  lower  tribes.  The  difference  is,  that  with 
man  the  arts  are  progressive,  and  with  animals  stationary 
— though  not  absolutely  so,  since  some  decidedly  modify 
their  staple  devices  under  marked  changes  of  circum- 
stances. 

Another  singular  notion  is,  that  barbarism  is  not  a  sim- 
ple but  a  highly  artificial  state  :  that  the  original  condition 
of  man  was  one  of  profound  knowledge  of  nature,  and 


134  PARTS   OF   THE   EARTH 

that  ancient  and  modern  civilizations  are  debris  of  primeval 
science  and  refinement !  This  is  reversing  matters — 
making  the  stream  dwindle  as  it  flows,  instead  of  gather- 
ing breadth  and  depth  and  momentum  from  swelling  tri- 
butaries. It  is  like  building  an  inverted  pyramid,  begin- 
ning at  the  base,  and  suspending  the  base  from  a  point. 
The  idea  is  not  only  opposed  to  all  experience  and  obser- 
vation ;  to  the  earth's  records,  which  everywhere  preserve 
specimens  of  the  first  arts  in  arrow  and  spear  heads  of 
flint  and  axes  of  stone,  instead  of  philosophical  remains ; 
but  is  expressly  contradicted  by  all  histories,  sacred  and 
profane.  They  describe  the  first  men  and  women  as 
destitute  of  clothing,  dwellings,  fire,  and  consequently  of 
artificial  light,  and  of  the  metals.  If  they  possessed  high 
theoretical  knowledge  it  was  clearly  useless  to  them. 
Had  they  known  better,  ought  they  not  to  have  done 
better  ? 

It  is  natural  to  ask,  What  part  or  parts  of  the  factory 
were  first  matured?  And  where  and  when  did  our  fore- 
fathers begin  their  labors  on  them  ?  The  answers  are 
written  upon  it,  without  and  within;  and  when,  in  the 
course  of  time,  they  become  clearly  translated,  they  will 
be  found  full  of  interest  and  instruction.  If  we  take  up 
an  atlas,  and  turn  to  the  usual  hemispherical  maps  on 
polar  and  equatorial  projections,  we  perceive  how  greatly 
the  land  preponderates  in  the  northern  half;  while  the 
southern  one  is  a  continuous  ocean,  broken  only  by  the 
lower  portions  of  Africa  and  America,  with  Australia  and 
scattered  islands,  most  of  which  appear  to  have  emerged 
from  the  waters  long  after  the  continental  tracts  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  equator  had  risen.  Now,  history 


FIRST    OCCUPIED    BY    MAN.  135 

coincides  with  what  reason  suggests — that  it  was  on  the 
northern  hemisphere,  the  earliest  and  largest  arena  pro- 
vided for  him,  that  man  first  made  his  appearance.  But 
this  vast  area  consists  of  two  very  unequal  parts,  sepa- 
rated by  two  oceans.  The  North  American  continent  is 
one ;  the  other,  three  or  four  times  larger,  includes  the 
whole  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  much  the  greater  part  of 
Africa.  On  which  did  men  first  open  their  eyes  ?  Cer- 
tainly on  the  one  that  was  first  prepared  for  them  ;  and 
which  of  the  two  that  was,  history,  tradition,  and  geology 
point  to  the  largest. 

But  it  may  be  asked — On  what  part  of  the  northern 
hemisphere  did  man  begin  his  career  1  There  is  no  doubt 
— there  can  be  none — that  by  the  same  law  which  assigned 
to  all  species  of  lower  tribes  their  appropriate  homes, 
man  was  put  in  possession  of  his  first  one,  there  being 
nothing  arbitrary  in  its  selection.  Now,  if  there  is  a 
natural  line  or  parallel  more  favorable  than  another  it 
undoubtedly  is  the  true  one.  The  equator  is  by  far  the 
most  marked  of  terrestrial  circles,  but  there  are  strong 
reasons  against  it.  If  lands  under  it  were  most  favorable 
to  human  development,  they  would  have  been  continued 
round  or  nearly  round  the  globe ;  instead  of  which,  out 
of  360  degrees,  water  sweeps  over  275.  There  is  not  a 
spot,  or  hardly  a  spot  of  land,  cut  by  the  equinoctial  line 
in  the  Pacific  ocean,  from  the  Spice  Islands,  in  130°  east 
longitude,  to  the  coast  of  America,  in  80°  west ;  a  dis- 
tance of  between  ten  and  eleven  thousand  miles.  Fol- 
lowing it  across  South  America  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon,  it  passes  over  60  degrees  in  the  Atlantic  ocean 
— one-sixth  of  the  earth's  circumference — more  of  unbro- 


136  LITTLE    TERRA    FIRMA    UNDER    THE    LINE. 

ken  water  to  Gaboon,  in  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  ;  continuing 
thence  to  Zanguebar,  it  ranges  over  four  thousand  miles 
of  the  Indian  ocean,  till  it  touches  the  Malayan  group 
whence  it  started — Sumatra,  Borneo,  Celebes,  and  the 
Spice  Islands. 

Thus  a  very  small  part  of  terra  firma  is  under  the  line. 
Europe  and  Asia  are  entirely  north,  and  so  is  the  largest 
of  the  American  continents,  while  the  great  expanse  of 
Australia  is  away  south  of  it.  It  crosses  Africa,  not  at 
the  widest  part,  which  is  from  60  to  70  degrees,  but  where 
the  width  is  reduced  to  35  degrees.  So  also,  the  broadest 
part  of  South  America  approaches  to  50°,  while  under 
the  line  it  is  less  than  30°.  These  facts  are  full  of  mean- 
ing. They  show,  if  nothing  else  had  shown,  that  an 
equatorial  belt  was  not  designed  to  be  an  early  centre  of 
civilization.  If  it  had  been,  so  much  of  it  had  not  been 
buried  under  water.  No  science  and  no  arts  have  ema- 
nated from  it ;  and  so  far  as  the  countries  have  been  ex- 
plored, the  whole  (a  few  minute  spots,  the  fruit  of  modern 
efforts,  excepted)  abides  in  primitive  wildness.  We  must 
therefore  look  elsewhere  for  the  most  congenial  theatre  of 
human  development ;  for  wherever  that  was,  there  the  arts 
began. 

Land  being  the  proper  theatre  of  man,  should  we  not 
turn  to  the  largest  tract  1  If  the  fact  of  a  comparatively 
small  field  appearing  on  the  equator,  and  in  disjointed  and 
widely  separated  portions,  predicated  too  limited  and  too 
interrupted  an  area,  the  converse  may  have  been  at 
the  beginning  true.  As  civilization  was  -not  to  flow  from 
the  equator,  it  must  have  arisen  at  some  distance  from  it, 
and  the  question  is,  at  what  distance  ?  There  are  two 


THE    TROPICS    BASE    LINES    OF    CIVILIZATION.        137 

other  great  natural  and  influential  lines  that  intervene 
between  the  torrid  heats  and  polar  colds — viz.  the  tropics 
Their  influence  on  the  vegetable  and  living  world,  and 
on  human  as  on  animal  developments,  is  unquestionable. 
Passing  round  the  earth  at  23  J  degrees  from  the  equator, 
they  are  three  times  that  distance  from  the  poles ;  but  as 
the  circles  or  parallels  of  latitude  diminish  from  them  to  a 
mere  point  at  the  poles,  they  are  all  powerful  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  heat  over  the  hemispheres,  and  in  determining 
and  locating  the  mean  temperature. 

They  seem  intended  for  the  base  lines  of  civilization. 
Let  us  see  how  this  accords  with  known  and  acknow- 
ledged facts.  Immediately  above  the  northern  tropic  is  the 
widest  stretch  of  continuous  land  on  the  face  of  the  globe  ; 
extending  over  135  degrees  of  longitude,  and  running 
through  what  have  always  been  deemed  the  earliest-peo- 
pled portions  of  the  earth,  and  those,  too,  from  which  the 
arts  are  acknowledged  to  have  descended  to  us — China, 
India,  Persia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  the  anciently  advanced 
states  on  the  northern  shores  of  Africa,  from  Barca  to 
Morocco.  Then,  if  a  perpendicular  or  meridional  line  be 
drawn  through  the  middle  of  this  land,  it  will  pass  through 
Arabia,  Persia,  and  the  Caspian,  or  vicinity  of  the  Cas- 
pian lake ;  and  the  place  of  intersection  will  be  found 
the  centre  of  the  largest  and  earliest  of  the  earth's  land 
sections.  It  need  not  be  remarked  how  the  location  coin- 
cides with  the  oriental  and  scriptural  accounts  of  the 
birth-place  of  man  (or  of  the  Caucasian  race).  Nor  yet, 
that  in  the  same  region  the  best  of  the  pulses,  of  esculent 
roots  and  fruits,  the  highest  of  the  cereals,  the  three  great 
staple  materials  for  clothing,  and  the  most  valuable  of 


138    PROGRESS    OF    THE    ARTS    FROM    THE    EQUATOR. 

domestic  quadrupeds  were  indigenous.  Here  were  fertile 
soils,  genial  climates,  and  everything  else  favorable  to 
physical  and  mental  vigor. 

The  arts  at  the  earliest  times  inclined  northwards,  and 
so  they  have  continued  to  the  present  times.  Between 
the  parallels  of  10°  and  40°  all  the  famous  nations  of  old 
flourished.  None  extended  their  influence  to  the  equator. 
It  was  the  same  on  the  western  hemisphere.  Mexico, 
Yucatan,  and  the  central  American  states  are  within  the 
same  parallels,  or  rather  between  10°  and  30°.  Ancient 
American  civilization  never  passed  the  isthmus,  and  conse- 
quently never  reached  the  regions  of  the  Amazon. 

In  the  eastern  hemisphere  there  have  been  no  occupied 
and  active  centres  of  civilization  south  of  the  equator, 
except  what  modern  colonies  are  producing,  and  hence  it 
has  never  reached  the  line  in  that  direction.  In  the  wes- 
tern hemisphere  the  Inca  dynasties,  or  their  predecessors, 
extended  their  imperfect  civilization  along  the  Pacific 
coast  from  the  tropic  to  40°  south,  and  also  north  quite 
up  to  the  equator  in  a  narrow  and  mountainous  region, 
which  from  its  elevation  rather  resembled  a  temperate 
than  a  tropical  cline. 

Without  amplifying  the  foregoing  facts  or  adding  to 
their  number,  enough  has  been  said  to  sanction  the  position 
assumed  that  the  tropical  lines  are  the  natural  bases  of 
civilization  throughout  the  earth.  And  here  a  parting 
glance  at  the  map  again  reminds  us  that  this  mundane 
factory  is  only  emerging  from  the  chaos  attending  its 
erection  ;  that  but  a  small  part  of  its  machinery  is  yet  put 
in  play  ;  and  that,  so  far  from  ourselves  and  our  immediate 
successors  being  among  the  last  and  most  enlightened  of 


ELABORATORS    AND    THEIR    WORK.  139 

its  operatives,  many  epochs  have  to  pass  by  before  it  be- 
comes in  full  working  order — so  vast  is  the  amount  of 
ground  to  be  covered,  and  work  to  be  done. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ELABORATORS    AND    THEIR    WORK. 

THE  various  forms  and  qualities  of  matter,  associated 
with  the  multiplicity  of  human  habits  and  inclinations,  pre- 
destined, as  already  intimated,  the  divisions  and  subdivi- 
sions of  elaborators.  Two  important  consequences  fol- 
lowed : — The  work  could  be  prosecuted  with  system  and 
success  ;  and  the  workmen  united  by  ties  of  mutual  de- 
pendence and  support. 

There  was  to  be  no  remission  of  labor ;  no  stoppages 
of  the  work  from  lack  of  raw  or  a  surplus  accumulation 
of  wrought  material.  No  means  were  provided  for  lay- 
ing up  in  one  age  a  stock  of  goods  for  another.  Each 
generation  was  to  labor  for  itself;  a  law  on  which  hangs 
the  continuance  of  living  bodies.  If  the  present  race  of 
bees,  for  example,  were  to  elaborate  honey  and  wax  suffi- 
cient to  supply  their  young  through  life,  and  thereby 
render  them  independent  of  labor,  the  succeeding  gene- 
ration would  perish,  and  the  species  become  extinct.  It 
would  be  much  the  same  with  us.  All  creatures  are 
made  to  labor,  and  their  enjoyments  to  depend  on  their 
industry. 


140      DURATION    OF    LIFE    FAVORABLE    TO    PROGRESS. 

As  a  wise  proprietor,  the  Creator  determined  the  sea- 
sons or  hours  of  work  by  adapting  our  organization  to 
the  length  of  days  and  nights,  or  periods  of  activity  and 
quiescence.  Had  we  not  been  ordained  to  labor  we 
probably  had  known  no  night,  and  consequently  nothing 
of  the  sweets  of  rest  after  fatigue,  or  of  the  renewal  of 
vigor  and  elasticity  from  repose. 

I  believe  the  average  duration  of  human  life  is  favor- 
able to  progress  in  the  arts,  and  that  it  has  been  deter- 
mined with  reference  to  them.  It  is  long  enough  to 
mature  the  faculties  and  afford  them  full  employment  in 
their  maturity ;  so  that  society  can  be  benefited  by  the 
ingenious  and  industrious  of  each  generation,  and  not  be 
embarrassed  for  a  longer  period  by  the  indolent  and  dull. 
They  who  do  no  good  in  sixty  or  seventy  years  would 
do  little  in  twice  that  time.  If  the  lives  of  artificers 
rivalled  those  ascribed  to  men  in  the  first  ages,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  expansion  of  mind  would  not  keep  pace  with 
their  years  ;  while  their  energy  and  enthusiasm  would 
certainly  flag.  And  what  a  drawback  on  the  world's 
industry,  if  the  improvident  and  unproductive  had  to  be 
fed,  and  clothed,  and  cared  for,  during  eight  or  nine 
hundred  years ! 

No  factory  can  be  successfully  carried  on  by  superannu- 
ated operatives ;  hence  the  Proprietor  of  this  earthly  one, 
in  limiting  the  period  of  service  in  it,  has  provided  for 
perpetual  accessions  of  new  and  vigorous  hands,  and 
consequently  of  new  and  improved  products.  But  for 
this  quick  succession  of  employees  there  could  probably 
be  no  rapid  increase  of  ideas,  nor  anything  like  the 
healthy  excitement  on  the  subject  that  is  beginning  to 


WORK,    NOT    YEARS,   THE   STANDARD   OF    LIFE.      141 

pervade  men's  minds.  Now,  more  than  ever,  are  many 
stimulated  to  surpass  their  predecessors  and  to  leave 
impressions  of  their  genius  behind  them.  To  the  credit 
of  such,  an  increasing  balance  will  be  recorded  long  after 
they  have  left  the  establishment,  while  the  accounts  of 
the  unprofitable  will  be  closed  with  their  discharge,  and 
their  names  expunged. 

Men  may  eat,  drink,  and  sleep  for  a  century,  and  not 
live  a  year.  Food  and  rest  are  simply  means  to  aid  us 
in  accomplishing  the  objects  of  life.  We  do  not  make 
steam-engines  for  the  sole  purpose  of  decomposing  fuel, 
nor  has  God  made  us  only  to  consume  victuals  and  wear 
out  clothing.  Like  artificial  motors,  we  are  created  for 
the  work  we  can  do — for  the  useful  and  productive  ideas 
we  can  stamp  upon  matter.  Engines  running  daily  with- 
out doing  any  work  resemble  men  who  live  without  labor  ; 
both  are  spendthrifts  dissipating  means  that  would  be 
productive  if  given  to  others. 

Another  feature  in  the  administration  of  the  establish- 
ment js,  its  employees  are  kept  ignorant  of  the  periods 
of  their  discharge.  None  know  how  long  they  are  to  be 
employed  ;  and  though  liable  to  be  dismissed  at  any  mo- 
ment, the  knowledge  of  this  does  not  make  them  one 
whit  less  energetic  in  their  callings — a  fact  unaccountable 
on  the  ground  of  reason  alone,  but  it  was  indispensable, 
and  hence  the  principle  on  which  it  rests  was  implanted 
in  our  natures.  Thus  the  work  progresses,  although 
workmen  are  hourly  called  away  from  it,  and  in  the  very 
midst  of  its  excitements. 

The  succession  of  life  is  a  most  beneficent  feature  in 
creation.  Surely,  it  is  better  that  millions  should  enjoy 


142  SUCCESSION   OF   LIFE — COMMERCE. 

life  than  a  few  scores.  As  for  the  pains  of  dying,  they  are 
momentary,  while  enjoyment  is  the  attribute  of  existence. 
Moreover,  pain  in  life  or  death  is  due  to  the  violation  of 
natural  laws ;  but  for  this  we  should  withdraw  as  easily 
from  life  as  do  the  lower  tribes — drop  as  ripe  fruit  into 
the  ground.  If  it  were  not  for  the  succession  of  life  we 
should  have  neither  animal  nor  vegetable  products. 
There  could  be  no  arts. 

The  bent  of  man's  nature,  or  his  instinct,  is  as  mani- 
fest in  his  works  as  are  those  of  animals  in  theirs.  The 
tenor  of  his  life  has  been  to  invent  and  construct ;  and 
now  that  science  is  espoused  to  art,  the  entire  face  of  the 
world  is  rapidly  assuming  a  manufacturing  and  mercan- 
tile aspect.  Its  circumnavigation  on  commercial  adven- 
tures is  becoming  an  every -day  affair.  Agriculture,  arts, 
and  commerce,  comprise  and  represent  the  material  pur- 
poses of  the  earth's  creation.  Through  them,  as  through 
channels,  man's  exertions  instinctively  flow,  and  by  them 
the  volume  and  velocity  of  his  efforts  are  measured.  Be- 
longing to  all  lands,  their  elements  are  varied  in  all. 
One  zone  is  rich  in  materials  not  known,  or  partially 
known,  in  others  ;  hence  arise  systems  of  trade,  by  which 
products  of  nature  and  art,  however  local  in  their  origins, 
become  universally  diffused,  and  mind  and  genius  circu- 
late with  them. 

Without  this  principle  of  giving  one  thing  for  another 
there  could  be  no  professional  employments,  and  no  ex- 
change of  thought.  Without  buyers  there  could  be  no 
manufactories.  Without  them  this  world  had  not  been 
one.  It  has  no  foreign  commerce,  no  correspondence 
with  neighboring  or  distant  orbs,  because  it  produces  no- 


WHAT  IS  MEANT  BY  SUBDUING  THE  EARTH.   143 

tiling  which  their  occupants  want,  nor  do  they  raise  any- 
thing essential  to  us.  Had  an  exchange  of  merchandise 
been  beneficial,  it  had  been  instituted.  The  earth's  fa- 
brics are  therefore  designed  for  home  consumption,  and 
domestic  demands  require  them  all.  By  diversifying  the 
character  and  qualities  of  matter,  and  so  distributing  it 
that  each  people  has  something  which  others  require, 
every  man  becomes  a  dealer  with  all  other  men ;  and 
thus  the  fraternal  principle  of  international  exchange  is 
revealed,  and  its  application  rendered  perpetual.  A 
market  is  provided  for  the  world's  productions  that  can 
never  be  glutted. 

Tilling  the  soil  and  subjugating  animals  is  only  half 
complying  with  the  prime  stipulation  in  the  great  char- 
ter. It  implies — Have  dominion  over  inert  matter ; 
over  rocks,  stones,  wood,  metals,  and  minerals ;  over  all 
liquid,  fluid,  and  solid  bodies ;  overcome  their  inertia,  and 
put  every  form,  quality,  and  condition  of  them  under 
contribution. 

Great  things  were  to  be  done  with  organized,  but 
greater  with  inorganized  matter ;  though  man,  at  the 
first,  little  suspected  that  common  things  he  trod  on,  and 
things  he  passed  by  daily  as  of  little  worth,  would  be- 
come of  the  first  importance  to  him.  The  mineral  king- 
dom was  to  be  a  special  arena  of  his  exploits  ;  in  it  he  was 
to  find  materials  for  his  mechanisms,  and  forces  to  propel 
them.  As  Grod  had  imparted  motion  to  animals,  so  he 
was  to  put  life,  or  the  activities  of  life,  into  dead  and 
shapeless  things — to  bring  forth  classes,  orders,  genera, 
and  species  of  organisms  for  himself,  such  as  should  take 
hold  of  matter  like  that  of  which  they  were  made ; 


144      .  LOCOMOTIVE    MECHANISMS. 

knead,  mould,  and  move  it  as  he  willed  them,  and  with  an 
accuracy,  persistence,  and  absence  of  fatigue,  surpassing 
the  powers  of  living  laborers. 

But  can  man  take  pieces  of  wood  and  metal ;  dress 
combine,  and  arrange  them  ;  place  them  in  positions  and 
locations  agreeable  to  him  ;  tell  them  to  move  among 
themselves,  and  do  his  bidding — to  card,  spin,  weave, 
sew,  embroider ;  plait  and  knit ;  crush,  grind,  and  sift  ; 
forge  this  substance  into  bars,  draw  that  into  tubes, 
spread  this  into  sheets,  stamp  those  into  plain  and  orna- 
mental vases,  dress  granite  into  moulded  blocks,  form  it 
into  columns,  carve  it  into  statues,  and  will  they  obey 
him  ?  Yes  !  Every  day  they  are  working  matter  into 
every  desirable  consistence  and  figure,  however  hard  or 
soft,  tough  or  brittle,  dense  and  massive,  or  light  and  fra- 
gile it  may  be.  This  is  subduing  the  earth ;  not  a  part, 
but  the  whole. 

The  extent  to  which  human  toil  has  in  this  way  been 
relieved,  is  one  of  the  best  things  accomplished  in  the 
present  century.  Like  every  great  acquisition,  it  has 
cleared  the  way  for  others.  The  machinery  just  noticed 
is  stationary,  its  whirring  sounds  are  confined  within  fac- 
tory walls,  and  to  it  the  work  must  be  taken.  This  is  the 
case  with  natural  motors,  except  animals.  When  a  horse 
is  released  from  thrashing  grain  or  grinding  corn  in  a  mill, 
he  labors  in  the  field  or  works  on  the  road.  A  locomo- 
tive power,  he  goes  to  the  work,  instead  of  remaining  on 
one  spot,  and  having  it  brought  to  him.  Now,  could  arti- 
ficial movers  be  brought  out  into  the  open  world,  run 
hither  and  thither,  put  on  the  character  of  docile  beasts 
of  draught  and  burden,  the  period  would  be  hastened 


LOCOMOTIVE    MACHINES.  145 

when  the  power  of  animals  would  be  laid  aside ;  for  it 
can  hardly  be  questioned  that  their  enslavement  was  de- 
signed to  initiate  more  economic  and  efficient  laborers  from 
the  inorganic  world. 

Well,  to  some  extent  this  has  been  effected,  and  the 
achievement  most  honorable  to  the  present  age  will  be 
felt  for  good  through  all  succeeding  ages.  Already,  pas- 
sengers by  the  thousand,  and  goods  by  the  hundred  tons, 
are  swept  along  by  horses  whose  food  is  fire,  and  whose 
breath  is  smoke — travelling  equipages  that  skim  over 
both  land  and  sea  with  a  speed  surpassing  that  of  the 
swiftest  racers.  And  all  this  done  by  what  ?  By  simple 
wood  and  iron,  coal  and  water. 

To  take  advantage  of  the  obvious  properties  of  natural 
substances  required  little  reflection  to  suggest,  and  only 
ordinary  tact  to  effect ;  but  to  conceive  and  successfully 
work  out  the  idea  of  a  travelling  machine,  to  build  up  the 
thing  piece  by  piece,  to  screw,  bolt,  rivet,  and  otherwise 
connect  its  several  parts,  place  the  whole  on  wheels,  give 
it  water  to  drink  and  fuel  to  warm  it ;  and  then  to  send 
it  out,  the  successful  pioneer  of  a  new  order  of  perspiring 
laborers — is  invention  of  the  highest  type.  The  produc- 
tion of  these  moving  powers  has  but  commenced,  and  yet 
the  time  appears  rushing  towards  us  when  the  face  of  the 
earth  will  be  literally  alive  with  them. 

This  drawing  out  of  the  ground  swarms  of  laborious 
Cyclops,  without  limits  to  their  numbers,  strength,  stature, 
and  obedience,  surpasses  the  legends  of  Prometheus, 
Antaeus,  and  Jason.  It  is  the  finest  proof  yet  revealed 
of  man's  power,  and  in  several  respects  the  most  daring 
and  fruitful  of  his  victories.  The  good  to  result  from  it 

7 


l46  MECHANICAL   FORCES 

no  one  can  even  imagine,  so  great  and  so  universally 
diffused  it  will  become.  To  make  things  that  are  unable 
to  stir  of  themselves  active  in  moving  others  ;  to  make 
insensible  slaves  go  and  come  at  our  nod ;  to  draw  our 
carriages,  plough  and  reap,  fabricate  every  class  of  goods, 
work  at  home  and  abroad,  indoors  and  out,  to  propel  our 
vessels  over  seas  and  bring  them  back,  &c.,  is  subduing 
the  earth  to  an  extent  that  perhaps  few  commentators  on 
Genesis  have  contemplated. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MECHANICAL  FORCES  AND  MEANS  TO  EMPLOY  THEM. 

As  it  is  in  connexion  with  mechanical  forces  that  man's 
conquests  over  matter  will  ever  appear  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, let  us  glance  at  their  development,  and  at  the  means 
of  modifying  them.  They  have  come  gradually  upon 
him,  and  in  a  natural  sequence ;  each  preparing  the  way 
for  its  successor.  Of  overpowering  influence  on  his  des- 
tiny, he  has  been  slow  to  appreciate  them,  or  to  perceive 
the  design  of  the  Creator  in  supplying  him  with  them. 
Those  easily  managed  came  first,  and  were  succeeded  by 
others  that  meet  higher  requirements,  and  such  as  called 
for  higher  skill  successfully  to  employ  them.  His  first 
experience  is  with  his  own  strength,  which  instinct  leads 
him,  in  common  with  the  inferior  tribes,  to  exert.  How 
long  he  applied  his  hands  directly  to  objects  he  wished  to 


AND  MEANS  TO  EMPLOY  THEM.          14? 

move,  before  the  lever  and  other  cognate  devices  occurred 
to  him,  we  cannot  tell ;  but  when  he  acquired  them,  he 
mastered  his  first  great  lesson  as  an  incipient  engineer. 

When  a  sense  of  the  inadequacy  of  his  personal  force 
began  to  prevail,  animals  were  first  called  in  ;  their  intro- 
duction necessarily  involving  new  mechanical  combina- 
tions. He  could  apply  his  hands  directly  to  a  saw,  to 
turn  the  quern,  raise  water  by  means  of  a  pole  or  pulley  ; 
but  with  quadrupeds  the  working  implements  or  tools  had 
often,  and  the  mechanisms  for  communicating  the  new 
power  to  them  had  always,  to  be  modified.  Horses  and 
oxen  could  readily  bear  off  loads  to  a  distance  when  laid 
on  their  backs,  but  it  was  their  power  to  drag,  or  over- 
come resistances  behind  them,  that  was  found  most  gene- 
rally beneficial,  and  to  that  movement  the  devices  had  to 
be  adapted ;  hence  arose  sledges  and  wheel  carriages. 
When  continuous  efforts  in  limited  spaces  were  required, 
then  arose  the  primitive  upright  revolving  shaft,  forming 
the  centre  of  a  circle  around  which  the  animal  travelled, 
being  yoked  by  a  horizontal  lever  attached  to  the  shaft. 
In  this  way  the  larger  quadrupeds  were  initiated  into 
manufacturing  labor,  and  man  himself  stepped  in  some 
measure  out  of  the  traces. 

Extending  his  views,  he  attempted  to  make  running 
and  falling  water  work  for  him,  and  succeeded.  Then  he 
fitted  up  vanes  to  catch  aerial  currents,  and  laid  the  fickle 
wind  under  contribution.  For  a  century  past,  steam  has 
done,  and  is  doing,  more  for  him  than  all  other  forces.  He 
thus  keeps  adding  to  the  number,  and  relinquishes  none  : 
hitherto  he  has  rather  sought  to  put  each  under  heavier 
.asks.  The  conquest  of  every  new  force  called  for  ad- 


148      MEANS    TO    INCREASE    AND    DIMINISH    MOTION. 

ditional  intervening  mechanisms.  Animals  brought  in 
novel  modes  of  transmitting  power  from  the  mover  to  the 
objects  moved ;  water  and  wind  required  different  ones, 
while  steam  and  the  gases  still  further  multiplied  them. 
Thus  every  new  power  called  the  inventive  faculties  into 
fresh  channels  of  thought,  excited  new  aspirations,  and 
opened  the  way  for  still  further  achievements. 

But  all  precious  as  forces  are,  they  would  have  been 
of  little  worth  without  the  mechanical  powers,  improperly 
so  called.  The  former  are  gifts  of  nature,  but  the  latter 
were  to  be  discoveries  of  man's  own ;  and  momentous  as 
was  to  be  their  influence  on  his  destinies,  it  is  a  singular 
proof  of  divine  provision  for  educating  him  as  an  artisan 
that  they  were  not  difficult  to  develope.  Early  reflection 
suggested,  and  early  experience  secured  them.  Atten- 
dants on  and  exponents  of  forces,  they  were  to  accom- 
pany him  through  his  entire  career ;  and  certainly,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  name  an  acquisition  more  essential  to 
Ibis  well-being,  in  any  one  stage  of  his  existence,  from  the 
dawn  of  civilization  to  the  close  of  its  highest  phases. 

Means  to  increase  and  diminish  motion  irrespective  of 
that  of  prime  movers,  are  a  sine  quA  non  in  the  arts.  If 
the  world  was  yet  without  the  six  simple  machines  there 
could  be  no  manufacturers  :  mechanical  movements  could 
not  vary  from  natural  ones,  and  motors  would  have  to  be 
selected  for  the  rate  of  their  speed  as  much  as  for  their 
power.  Leaping  waterfalls  and  rushing  currents  of  wind 
and  water  could  not  be  applied  to  delicate  and  slow  ope- 
rations, nor  the  requisite  velocity  of  cotton-mill  spindles 
be  attained  from  sluggish  first  movers.  We  could  not 
measure  time  if  we  had  not  the  means  of  compelling  the 


MODIF:CATIO\S  OF  FORCE  AND  VELOCITY.       149 

seconds-hand  of  a  chronometer  to  travel  sixty  times 
faster  than  the  minute-one,  and  this  as  much  quicker 
than  the  index  for  hours.  Clocks  and  watches  had  been 
impossible  things.  The  spinning-jenny  had  still  retained 
everywhere  one  or  the  other  of  its  eastern  or  western 
primordial  types — a  loaded  whirling-stick,  suspended  \>y 
the  thread  it  twisted,  or  a  similar  stick  spun  with  the  fin- 
gers, like  a  top  in  a  shell.  Carving  might  have  been 
practised,  but  the  lathe  had  been  unknown.  There 
might  have  been  drills,  but  they  would  have  been  those 
of  the  savage,  whirled  between  the  palms  of  the  hands. 
There  could  have  been  in  fact  no  civilization,  as  we  know 
there  is  none,  where  power  to  modify  motion  is  not. 

The  mechanical  powers,  therefore,  serve  as  substitutes 
for  a  multiplicity  of  movers  as  respects  speed  ;  since  by 
them  a  series  of  velocities  embracing  every  possible  and 
practical  one  is  attained.  But  their  advantages  do  not 
stop  here  ;  they  also  answer  the  purpose  of  an  infinite 
variety  of  forces  ;  for  by  them  a  force  brought  to  bear  on 
an  object  is  reduced  or  augmented  in  intensity  to  meet 
every  exigence.  Thus,  by  them  man's  own  force  over- 
comes resistances  a  thousand  times  too  great  for  the  direct 
application  of  his  strength  ;  and  by  them  he  reduces  vio- 
lent and  overpowering  strains  to  mild  and  uniform  ones. 
Two  or  three  sailors  can  raise  the  largest  ship's  anchor, 
and  the  marble  columns  of  public  edifices  are  elevated 
and  swung  to  their  places  by  a  few  hands  at  a  capstan. 
The  power  of  an  elephant  can  be  made  to  handle  and 
spin  the  most  delicate  fibres,  and  that  of  a  thousand  to 
fabricate  muslin  thin  as  woven  air. 

By  the  mechanical  powers  the  cardinal  principle  of  an 


150          CHANGE    OF    ONE    MOTION    INTO   ANOTHER. 

interchange  between  force  and  motion  is  elucidated.  By 
them  we  can  at  our  pleasure  barter  power  for  speed  and 
speed  for  power;  so  that  wherever  there  is  in  a  first- 
mover  an  excess  or  a  deficiency  of  either,  both  are  so 
perfectly  subdued  that  any  desirable  degree  of  force  or  ve- 
locity can  be  drawn  from  them.  A  force  double  the  amount 
necessary  to  move  an  object  with  a  certain  velocity  is 
made  to  move  it  so  much  quicker ;  if  it  be  sufficient 
barely  to  overcome  the  resistance,  the  gearing  is  reversed, 
and  it  performs  the  work,  but  takes  double  or  quadruple 
the  time  to  do  it  in.  By  gearing,  the  speed  of  a  first- 
mover  is  increased  to  any  imaginable  extent,  and  reduced 
to  the  slowest  of  perceptible  motion.  Another  point  of 
equal  importance  is  gained  by  them,  the  conversion  of  one 
kind  of  motion  into  another  ; — straight  into  curved,  recti- 
linear into  rotatory,  alternating  into  continuous,  direct 
into  oblique,  and  the  reverse  of  these.  Modern  machin- 
ery abounds  with  these  conversions.  Its  efficacy  depends 
on  them. 

I  scarcely  know  anything  more  wonderful  in  their 
effects  and  more  beautifully  simple  in  themselves  than 
the  elemental  machines,  since  by  them  we  have  endless 
gradations  of  forces  and  velocities  at  our  command. 
Without  them  the  volume  of  the  arts  could  not  have  been 
opened,  or,  if  opened,  scarcely  one  of  its  problems  solved. 
Could  their  full  value  be  perceived,  they  also  would  serve 
to  warm  us  into  admiration  of  the  Divine  economy  under 
which  we  live,  as  students  of  and  manipulators  in  matter. 

The  simple  machines  act  directly  only  on  solid  bodies, 
but  there  are  forces  to  be  obtained  from  liquids ;  not 
merely  from  their  gravity  in  weighing  down  one  side  of  a 


FORCE    FROM    THE    PRESSURE    OF    LIQUIDS.  151 

trheel,  or  from  their  momentum  sweeping  its  buckets 
round,  but  by  their  pressure.  To  render  this  element 
available,  we  should  have  the  means  of  exchanging  speed 
for  intensity,  and  vice  versd  ;  but  here  wheels  and  their 
cognates  are  inapplicable.  To  meet  the  exigence,  liquids 
are  subject  to  a  law  through  which  we  can  control  and 
employ  them  as  motors.  Unlike  solids,  they  press 
equally  in  every  direction,  and  their  pressure  is  as  their 
height ;  and  hence,  as  exemplified  in  the  hydrostatic  pa- 
radox, a  quantity  of  water,  however  small,  can  be  made 
to  balance  another,  however  large ;  and  as  in  the  hy- 
draulic press,  by  which  a  man  working  a  small  pump  can 
raise  500  or  1000  tons. 

It  is  the  same  with  elastic  fluids.  A  person  blowing 
through  a  minute  tube  may  raise  tons  with  his  breath  ;  the 
power  of  a  steam-engine  is  enlarged  or  diminished  with 
the  area  of  its  piston. 

There  is,  moreover,  an  analogy  between  mechanical 
forces  and  chemical  solutions.  The  strength  of  both  is 
•weakened  by  diffusion,  and  augmented  by  concentration. 
The  wheel  and  pinion  are  to  one,  what  dilution  and  con- 
centration are  to  the  other.  In  fine,  the  laws  impressed 
upon  fluids,  for  the  purposes  of  the  arts,  and  exemplified 
in  the  operations  of  nature,  are  so  admirable,  that  lan- 
guage cannot  express  the  feelings  they  awaken  in  minds 
that  appreciate  them. 


CHAPTER  V, 

HINTS    TO   MAN    IN    NATURAL    MECHANISMS. 

IT  may  perhaps  be  said  that  though  inert  matter  was 
made  peculiarly  subject  to  man,  and  ready  to  receive 
whatever  forms  and  movements  he  might  wish  to  give  it, 
some  kind  of  instruction  was  necessary.  A  stranger  in  a 
strange  world,  or  rather,  a  new  being  on  a  new  orb,  time 
was  required  for  him  to  realize  his  position  and  feel  his 
powers.  So  far  as  the  instincts  of  his  material  nature 
were  concerned  he  was  much  on  a  par  with  the  creatures 
below  him  ;  but,  as  observation  and  reflection  marked  his 
character,  he  stood  in  need  of  information  specific  and 
direct.  Well,  he  was  not  left  without  it.  In  the  teeming 
mechanisms  working  everywhere  about  him  he  had  illus- 
trations of  the  principles  that  govern  matter,  and  of  quali- 
ties, adaptations,  and  applications  in  profusion,  to  guide 
him  in  producing  creations  of  his  own.  What  more  could 
be  done  for  him  when  every  object  before  him  was  a 
lesson  1  Whenever  a  stone  axe  is  ploughed  up  we  do 
not  want  an  ancient  Indian  to  rise  out  of  a  mound  to  tell 
us  what  use  it  was  put  to.  A  knife,  a  pen,  or  any  other 
manufactured  article  is  a  tangible  thought,  or  a  congeries 
of  thoughts,  in  which  the  mind  and  workings  of  the  mind 
of  the  designer  is  perceived ;  and  so  it  is,  that  the  ideas 
and  reasonings,  if  the  terms  be  allowable,  of  the  Creator 
stand  out  in  all  his  works.  To  those  who  study  his 


ORIGIN    OF    ARCHITECTURE.  153 

mechanisms,  his  intentions  are  as  perceptible  in  forms, 
motions,  and  proportions  ;  in  levers,  joints,  valves,  tubes, 
mechanical  equivalents,  and  results ;  as  those  of  a  human 
engineer  in  any  one  of  his  works. 

The  great  doctrine  of  form,  one  of  the  first,  will  be  one 
of  the  last,  to  engage  man's  attention.  It  is  taught  every- 
where by  nature.  All  his  first  implements  and  utensils 
were  derived  directly  from  her.  In  the  gourd  family 
he  had  pitchers,  vases,  cups,  and  caldrons  ready  to  his 
hands,  and  a  thousand  hints  in  other  groups.  It  is  con- 
ceded that  architecture — from  huts  of  bent  twigs  to 
palaces  supported  by  single  and  clustered,  twisted  and 
fluted  columns — is  but  an  elaboration  of  natural  sugges- 
tions. It  arose  in  the  forest,  and  everywhere  retains  traces 
in  its  materials  and  forms  of  its  origin  there. 

Whatever  amount  of  credit  is  due  to  classic  stories 
about  the  prototypes  of  columns  and  capitals,  with  their 
volutes  and  foliage,  in  the  olive,  acanthus,  and  lotus,  this 
much  I  can  say,  from  personal  observations  in  a  Brazilian 
forest,  that  nature  has  given  patterns  for  such  things  to 
h.^  extent  that  I,  at  any  rate,  had  not  suspected.  I  met 
with  portraits  of  the  Doric,  and  in  a  species  of  dwarf 
cocoa  with  diverging  capitals  almost  fac-similes  of  ancient 
Egyptian  shafts ;  others,  again,  exhibited  swellings  at 
their  upper  parts  strongly  recalling  cognate  features  in 
Hindoo  structures.  But  what  is  the  origin  of  mouldings 
employed  round  the  bases  and  other  parts  of  columns  1 
Resting  with  some  companions  on  a  fallen  trunk,  a  singu- 
lar and  most  unlooked-for  incident  arrested  my  attention, 
which  threw  light  on  that  question.  I  don't  know  that  I 
was  ever  so  much  and  so  agreeably  surprised. 
7* 


154    NATURAL  MOULDINGS — BEAUTY  IN  FORM. 

A  sipo  f  of  an  inch  in  diameter  (one  of  the  vegetable 
ropes  that  everywhere  abound)  had  wound  itself  several 
times  round  the  smooth  trunk,  and  had  assumed  the  form 
of  as  regular  an  astragal,  or  ovolo  with  fillets,  as  if  made 
with  a  plane,  except  that  the  square  edges  of  the  fillets 
were  rather  rounded  than  sharp.  The  sipo  came  down 
from  some  lofty  foliage,  and  after  coiling  round  the  bole 
disappeared  in  the  distance.  Before  it  reached  the  trunk 
it  was  of  course  cylindrical ;  but  where  it  began  to  wind, 
the  part  in  contact  with  the  trunk  became  flattened,  and 
as  it  proceeded  the  yielding  cord  spread  out  laterally, 
forming  nuclei  and  at  length  perfectly  formed  fillets.  The 
evolution  of  these  was  clearly  due  to  the  pressure  arising 
from  the  tightening  (perhaps  by  drying)  of  the  cord. 
Where  it  left  the  trunk  the  base  of  the  semicircular  pro- 
file continued  a  few  feet  and  then  merged  into  a  cylinder. 
The  fillets  disappeared  earlier. 

It  will  ever  be  a  leading  principle  in  manufactures  to 
put  suitable  materials  into  shapes  best  adapted  to  the 
purposes  to  be  accomplished,  because  the  virtue  of  form 
does  not  stop  with  itself,  but  extends  to  everything  con- 
nected with  it.  All  principles  in  the  arts  are  allied  and 
run  into  each  other ;  thus  correct  contours  and  propor- 
tions lead  to  economy  of  material,  and  this,  as  exemplified 
in  intermediate  and  propelling  organs,  to  the  least  outlay 
of  power ;  and  consequently  to  the  cheapness  and  dura- 
bility of  machines. 

As  forms  improve,  another  element,  viz.  Beauty,  be- 
gins to  appear,  the  perception  of  which  opens  a  distinct 
source  of  pleasure.  It  is  the  proof  of  excellence  in  na- 
ture, and  the  reward  of  it  in  art.  It  does  not  arise  solely 


NO    ABSOLUTE    LINES    OF    BEAUTY.  155 

from  what  are  deemed  elegant  outlines,  but  from  their  ac- 
cordance with  the  uses  for  which  the  object  is  made. 
Without  this,  the  thing  would,  as  a  whole,  be  incongru- 
ous and  distorted,  no  matter  what  conventional  taste 
might  approve  in  its  parts.  There  are  no  absolute  lines 
of  beauty,  nor  combinations  of  them ;  the  figure  of  the 
most  elegant  dish  could  never  be  graceful  in  a  goblet,  nor 
that  of  a  tray  in  a  caldron,  because  beauty  can  never  be 
where  adaptation  is  not.  Hogarth's  curved  line,  return- 
ing on  itself,  could  have  nothing  attractive  in  railroads  or 
the  walls  of  dwellings ;  with  them  straight  lines  are  the 
most  seemly,  because  most  efficient.  It  is  therefore  on 
account  of  the  perfect  fitness  of  particular  forms  to  par- 
ticular purposes,  that  nature's  figures  are  so  diversified 
and  pleasing.  Even  those  from  which  we  shrink  would 
be  attractive,  did  we  fully  comprehend  them.  We  should 
then  admit  that  the  maternal  toad,  spider,  or  crab,  might, 
as  justly  as  Juno,  address  her  offspring  as  "  beauties." 
Perfection  of  form  is  the  visible  evidence  of  it  in  other 
respects.  Man  conceals  bad  work  and  bad  taste  under 
showy  exteriors — nature  never  does. 

In  the  earth's  fauna  and  flora  are  myriads  of  forms 
wholly  unknown  ;  only  a  portion  is  open  to  man's  ordi- 
nary vision,  nor  can  ages  of  close  investigation  bring 
them  all  out.  Of  those  of  insects  we  know  little,  of  ani- 
malcula  and  the  small  occupants  of  the  ocean  still  less. 
The  microscope  is  constantly  revealing  new  worlds  of 
forms ;  and  it  will  continue  to  do  so,  since  there  is  a  uni- 
verse of  them  to  employ  it.  What  a  deep  and  wide  line 
of  distinction  there  is  between  vegetable  and  animal 
figures,  and  how  inexpressibly  diversified  are  the  outlines 


j56       FOUR  BOOKS  OF  PATTERNS — COLORS. 

of  each !  It  has  seemed  to  many,  and  would  seem  to  all 
who  gave  the  subject  serious  attention,  an  impossibility 
for  a  new  type  to  be  added,  so  completely  does  the 
ground  seem  covered ;  and  yet  the  instant  we  turn  to  the 
mineral  kingdom,  we  find  it  also  has  one  of  its  own,  with 
forms  varied,  till  the  imagination  faints  in  following  them. 
See  the  symmetrical  figures  of  which  even  flakes  of  snow 
are  composed.  It  might  be  inferred  that  dealers  in  fancy 
and  ornate  goods  could  not  use  up  the  earth's  three  great 
books  of  patterns,  if  they  lived  and  worked  for  ever,  and 
took  a  fresh  pattern  every  day. 

But  a  fourth  book  has  been  given  us,  and  it  contains  as 
many  pages  as  each  of  the  others.  While  they  are  made 
up  of  definite  and  regular  configurations,  its  elements 
consist  of  apparently  purposeless  and  amorphous  shapes, 
of  random  and  unmeaning  patches,  as  the  streaks  and 
spots  on  skins  of  animals,  sea-shells,  marble,  clouds,  and 
flowers ;  yet  in  her  hands  how  attractive  they  are  made  ! 
Arrangement  is  the  kaleidoscope  that  makes  them  all 
symmetrical.  Out  of  twisted,  distorted,  abnormal  ele- 
ments, it  produces  figures  of  perfect  forms,  while  its 
changes  of  them  eternity  cannot  exhaust. 

Such  is  the  Divine  Proprietor's  love  of  the  Beautiful, 
and  his  desire  to  cultivate  it  in  us,  that  he  has  introduced 
an  adjunct  to  it  in  colors.  With  these  he  has  embellished 
everything  on  earth,  in  air,  and  in  water.  We  tread  on  a 
carpet  of  tapestry  the  richness  of  which  we  do  not  appre- 
ciate, while  the  canopy  over  us  is  an  ever  changing  series 
of  paintings.  What  pleasures,  physical,  moral,  and  intel- 
lectual, we  had  never  known  if  the  earth  and  sky,  and  all 
objects  between  them,  had  been  of  a  uniform  hue !  But 


USES    OF    COLORS — SOUND MUSIC.  157 

colors  serve  more  purposes  than  to  please  the  eye.  There 
shines  not  a  tint  on  the  breast  of  a  thrush,  nor  a  gleam 
of  iridescence  on  a  humming-bird's  throat,  nor  a  golden 
spot  on  a  common  trout's  body,  nor  a  feather  of  flame  in 
a  flamingo's  wing,  but  has  its  uses,  although  naturalists 
have  not  yet  divined  what  they  are.  The  summer  dresses 
of  arctic  animals  and  birds  are  regularly  thrown  off,  and 
winter  ones  put  on ;  but  as  yet  little  progress  has  been 
made  in  the  investigation  of  such  matters,  and  of  the  laws 
by  which  colors  are  developed  and  defined,  notwithstand- 
ing the  pleasures  and  profit  the  knowledge  must  bring. 
To  some  classes  of  manufacturers  more  than  to  others  the 
study  of  colors  and  of  symmetrical  figures  belongs  :  and 
what  a  school  of  instruction  has  been  opened  for  them  ! 

Another  source  of  pleasure  and  of  art  is  opened  in 
sounds.  A  mercurial  workman  whistles  and  sings  to 
break  the  monotony  of  toil,  and  to  lighten  it,  while  the 
phlegmatic  diverts  himself  with  scenes  in  his  mental 
phantasmagoria.  What  attractive  forms  are  to  the  eye, 
modulations  and  combinations  of  sounds  are  to  the  ear. 
To  vocal,  instrumental  music  succeeded,  and  became  a 
distinct  and  popular  branch  of  invention,  in  which  instru- 
ment makers  have  principles  and  applications  of  principles 
in  nature  to  guide  them  to  as  great  an  extent  as  workmen 
in  other  departments  of  art. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROFESSIONS  ALLIED  TO  THE  ELABORATION  OF  MATTER. 

PROFESSIONS  seemingly  not  allied  to  the  manipulating  of 
matter,  arise  from,  and  are  dependent  on  it.  The  diver- 
sity of  habits  and  tastes  so  wisely  designed  to  facilitate 
the  work,  is  not  intended  to  isolate  its  parts,  hut  to  bring 
all  to  bear  on  each  other.  Nothing  is  insulatable  in  na- 
ture or  in  art.  If  therefore  the  great  task  of  man  is  to 
imprint  knowledge  on  matter,  the  labors  of  scientific  as 
well  as  of  other  classes  must  have  reference  to  it ;  and 
they  have — they  contribute  essentially  to  it.  Learned 
professions  are  as  leaves  of  a  tree  ;  they  hang  in  clusters 
from  kindred  twigs  and  branches  that  shoot  from  the  ma- 
nipulating bole,  and  they  aid  in  the  development  and 
ripening  of  the  fruit.  The  subjects  of  science  are  not 
given  to  us  as  pleasing  abstractions,  but  to  lead  to  sub- 
stantial good.  They  are  charged  with  practical  lessons ; 
and  it  is  the  actual  employment  of  the  principles  they  il- 
lustrate that  is  required  of  us,  not  fruitless  meditation  on 
the  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  nor  barren  praises  of  him. 
At  present,  human  knowledge  exists  in  scattered  frag- 
ments. Like  uncollected  materials  for  a  public  edifice, 
they  have  to  be  brought  together,  dressed,  and  put  in 
their  appropriate  places,  to  form  the  exterior,  and  adorn  the 
interior ;  and  not  till  this  is  to  some  extent  done,  can  the 
true  value  of  each,  and  the  influence  of  the  whole  be  felt. 


CONNEXION    OF   ASTRONOMY   WITH    THE    ARTS.      159 

Is  it  asked  what  scientific  men  do  1  Let  us  see.  Phy- 
sics, in  its  widest  sense,  embraces  the  phenomena  of  the 
material  creation,  and  therefore  the  whole  wisdom  of 
God  represented  in  matter.  Co-extensive  with  matter, 
the  science  of  external  things  must  for  ever  exercise  the 
investigating  powers  of  intelligences.  It  is  limited  in  its 
range  on  each  orb  to  the  phases  in  which  matter  exists 
on  each,  but,  what  is  very  observable,  it  cannot  be  prose- 
cuted on  one  without  reference  to  others,  thus  reminding 
us  of  the  unity  of  creation ;  that  no  limb,  or  member  of 
it,  any  more  than  of  a  plant  or  insect,  exists  of  or  for 
itself,  and  consequently  that  the  occupants  of  all  worlds 
are  members  of  one  family,  to  whom  different  parts  of 
the  family  estate  have  been  committed  ;  that  all  are  pu- 
pils of  one  school,  though  receiving  instruction  in  sepa- 
rate classes. 

Astronomers  pursue  inquiries  which  some  persons  ima- 
gine have  no  bearing  on  human  affairs.  They  are  mis- 
taken ;  so  far  from  being  isolated,  we  should  never  have 
so  much  as  seen  what  our  planet  is  made  of,  but  for  the 
light  that  streams  on  it,  from  one  star  by  day,  and  from 
others  by  night.  We  should  have  had  no  measure  for 
time  ;  and  then  there  is  the  potent  fact,  that  terrestrial 
location  is  only  determined  by  celestial  observation,  so 
that  we  cannot  traverse  our  own  earth,  know  in  what  di- 
rection we  may  be  going,  or  tell  on  what  part  of  it  we 
at  any  time  are,  without  looking  to  other  worlds  for  the 
information.  Without  astronomy  there  had  been  no  na- 
vigation ;  the  seaman  deduces  the  position  of  his  ship 
from  the  altitudes  and  occultations,  not  only  of  members 
of  our  solar  group,  but  of  the  fixed  stars.  Nearly  all 


160  LABORS    OF    CHEMISTS    AND    NATURALISTS. 

arts  are  affected  by  ocean  commerce,  while  the  chemical 
influences  of  the  sun  affect  all  substances,  and  almost  all 
processes.  Astronomy,  then,  has  a  direct  bearing  on  ma- 
nufactures, from  the  smallest  to  the  most  important  arti- 
cles enumerated  in  ships'  bills  of  lading. 

Terrestrial  physics  may  be  comprised  in  two  divisions 
— one  treating  of  the  constituent  ingredients  of  all  bodies, 
the  other  of  their  forms,  motions,  forces,  and  properties, — 
Chemistry  and  Mechanics  ;  the  latter  including  organic, 
inorganic,  and  artificial  mechanisms,  or  those  made  by  God 
and  those  formed  by  man. 

Chemists  have  more  richly  contributed  to  the  arts  than 
other  savants,  because  more  intimately  employed  on  mat- 
ter. For  one  great  fact  we  are  indebted  to  them,  viz. 
the  compound  nature  of  all  bodies — that  minerals  and 
vegetables,  solids,  liquids,  and  the  air  itself  are  all  alloys 
— that  forms,  qualities,  and  colors  are  results  of  propor- 
tions of  composing  elements.  It  is  extremely  probable 
that  no  simple  form,  or  true  element  of  matter,  has  yet 
been  ascertained.  In  furnishing  new  compounds,  chemis- 
try has  marked  the  present  times  as  an  era  in  the  mani- 
pulating arts :  while  many  depend  wholly  upon  it,  its 
influence  extends  through  all — there  are  no  imaginable 
limits  to  the  number  and  value  of  its  contributions.  The 
next  popular  prime-mover  is  certainly  to  come  from  it. 

Naturalists,  so  called,  divide  themselves  into  classes 
corresponding  with  the  objects  they  study,  as  plants, 
fishes,  reptiles,  insects,  birds,  mammalia,  &c.,  in  which  the 
Great  Artificer  has  given  examples  of  every  variety  of 
motion,  of  transmitting  and  compensating  mechanisms,  of 
adaptations  of  parts  to  a  whole,  of  form  to  speed,  and 


LESSONS    IN    ENGINEERING    FROM    NATURE.  161 

other  results ;  of  harmoniously  working  and  absolutely 
perfect  machines.  Human  arts  have  at  length  arrived 
at  a  point  where  consulting  with  those  of  nature  has 
become  more  than  ever  necessary.  In  the  contours  and 
movements  of  organs  of  locomotion,  in  the  feet  and  wings 
of  insects  and  birds,  of  reptiles  and  fish,  much  has  to  be 
observed,  more  than  the  highest  order  of  minds  can  ex- 
haust in  any  age.  In  the  structures  raised  by  insects, 
birds,  and  some  quadrupeds,  and  in  the  fabrics  many  of 
them  make,  the  most  perfect  application  of  mechanical 
principles,  with  economy  of  material,  is  displayed.  So 
also  in  their  manipulating  apparatus  and  processes,  in 
their  weapons  of  attack  and  defence,  devices  for  ensnar- 
ing game,  &c.,  &c.  All  is  literal  chemistry  and  mechanics, 
and  will  be  full  of  instruction  to  artificers  for  ever. 

When  marine  engineers,  for  example,  comprehend  the 
principles  that  govern  the  movements  and  velocity  of 
water  animals,  from  the  jelly-fish,  progressing  by  col- 
lapsing and  expanding  itself,  to  the  gambolling  flying-fish, 
and  the  meteor-flight  of  the  sword-fish,  they  will  no  longer 
be  at  a  loss  respecting  the  figures  and  action  of  their  pro- 
pelling blades.  The  prolific  provision,  the  wonderful 
varieties  of  principles  and  processes  for  the  locomotion 
of  marine  bodies,  and  bodies  of  every  form,  from  the 
gangliated  medusae  to  the  dolphin  or  other  swift  swimmers, 
and  for  movements  in  every  possible  direction  that  neces- 
sity, pleasure,  or  even  sport  requires,  is  enough  to  fill 
every  soul  with  delight.  Besides  mechanical,  there  are 
chemical  lessons  for  boat -builders,  e.  g. — Instead  of  cover- 
ing the  bottoms  of  their  fast  vessels  with  grease  that  repels 
water,  and  thereby  retards  their  progress,  they  would  seek 


162      MAN   CREATED   TO   EXCEL   AS   AN   ARTIFICER. 

for  a  coating  analogous  to  that  of  fishes,  which,  while 
impervious  to,  coalesces  with  the  fluid,  and  consequently 
enables  them  to  move  more  readily  through  it. 

As  with  the  vegetable  and  animal,  so  with  the  inorganic 
world :  all  the  operations  going  on  in  it  are  solutions  of 
mechanical,  engineering,  and  chemical  problems.  Natural 
philosophers  amuse  themselves  in  the  kingdoms  of  nature, 
without  apparently  being  aware,  and  certainly  without 
being  fully  'aware,  that  everything  they  see  is  or  will  be 
applicable  to  devices  which  progressive  civilization  will 
demand.  But  our  age,  like  lower  epochs  of  geologists,  is 
preliminary  to  and  prophetic  of  a  superior  future. 

From  the  foregoing  rapid  views  of  the  earth,  her  mate- 
rials and  forces,  and  of  man's  organization  and  achieve- 
ments, it  is  impossible  not  to  acknowledge  the  adaptation 
of  one  to  the  other,  and  not  to  feel  that  all  things  accord 
with  his  duties  as  an  artificer;  that  he  was  created  to 
excel  as  one — that  the  business  of  his  race  was  and  is  to 
take  the  products  of  nature's  mills,  and,  by  further  ela- 
borating them  in  his  own,  to  bring  out  in  endless  suc- 
cession beneficial  results — that  he  was  to  collect  natural 
motors,  contrive  artificially  excited  ones,  and  make  each 
the  centre  of  moving  mechanisms  for  shaping  matter  into 
newer  and  newer  forms  of  utility  and  beauty — to  cover 
the  earth  with  barns,  workshops  and  dwellings,  roads  and 
canals,  and  the  seas  and  rivers  with  his  ships — to  produce 
goods  and  merchandise  for  universal  commerce — to  banish 
idleness  and  want  with  their  concomitants,  by  diffusing 
industry,  intelligence,  and  competence  through  every  com- 
munity— in  a  word,  to  become  in  its  widest  sense  a  manu- 
facturer. 


FAITH    IN    HUMAN    POWER.  163 

It  is,  however,  true  that  as  Lord  of  the  earth,  man  as 
yet  has  no  adequate  conception  of  his  high  destiny.  A 
little  light  flickers  here  and  there,  and  it  is  spreading,  but 
nothing  compared  to  a  general  illumination.  The  con- 
viction is  not  fastened  in  him  that  he  is  placed  here  in 
charge  of  an  establishment  teeming  with  treasure,  to  add 
to  a  capital  that  can  only  cease  to  increase  by  his  ceasing 
to  employ  it,  and  that  if  he  suffer  it  to  lie  idle,  no  power 
on  earth  or  heaven  can  use  it  for  him  ;  that  it  is  in  nature 
as  in  grace — to  him  that  makes  the  most  of  what  he  has 
more  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  abundance,  while 
from  the  indolent  shall  be  taken  that  which  he  hath — a 
civil,  political,  and  moral  principle,  of  which  the  history 
of  nations  is,  and  ever  will  be,  a  running  commentary. 
No  useful  and  productive  thought  should  be  confined  to 
the  mind  that  conceives  it,  nor  can  it  be,  without  incur- 
ring the  guilt  of  Achan. 

The  truth,  however,  is  dawning ;  advanced  ideas  are 
obtaining ;  ancient  boundaries  of  thought  are  giving  way, 
and  new  views  of  man's  capacities  and  powers  arising  in  the 
widening  horizon.  To  one  great  lesson  the  world  is  be- 
ginning to  listen  :  Faith  in  human  power.  The  truth  it 
enforces  is  all  potent  for  good.  Before  it,  every  obstacle 
must  eventually  give  way,  and  to  it  every  element  and 
influence  in  nature  will  be  subject.  As  a  cloud  is  the 
"  mother  of  rain,"  so  is  this  faith  charged  with  more  re- 
freshing showers  than  have  yet  fallen  on  our  species. 
Emerging  from  dark  times,  it  is  but  recently  that  the 
power  in  man  has  been  suspected.  The  subjugation  of 
steam,  electricity,  and  other  agents,  points  to  the  divinity 
within  him,  and  fortifies  the  doctrine  that  "  all  power"  on 


164   MAN    CAN    MAKE    THE    WORLD    WHAT    HE    PLEASES. 

earth  is  committed  to  him — that  on  himself  alone  it  de- 
pends whether  he  be  omnipotent  here  or  an  imbecile. 
Hence,  where  this  fundamental  truth  is  not  taught,  men 
are  children ;  where  received,  increasing  elevation  of  cha- 
racter becomes  manifest.  And  what  is  there,  with  reli- 
ance on  himself,  that  man  cannot  do  ]  Till  modern  times, 
he  has  been  struggling  in  uncertainty,  scarcely  knowing 
what  to  hope  for,  nor  what  was  lawful  to  attempt ;  but 
now,  with  a  little  faith,  he  is  achieving  the  greatest  things 
and  successfully  wielding  nature's  mightiest  forces.  Ex- 
cept interfering  with  its  movements  in  the  fields  of  space 
he  can  make  this  orb  pretty  much  what  he  pleases. 
Here  are  none  to  trouble  him,  no  interference  from  with- 
out or  within.  Shut  up  in  his  floating  homestead,  he  has 
ample  means  to  improve  it,  and  make  both  it  and  him- 
self what  both  were  created  to  be.  Its  climates  and 
aspects  he  is  changing,  and  it  is  certain  that  whatever  he 
makes  it,  it  will  be  a  type  of  himself — of  the  range  and 
vigor  of  his  energie?,  or  of  intellect  impoverished  and 
matted  with  weeds. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

OBJECTIONS    CONSIDERED. 

THERE  are  two  objections,  or  what  may  be  construed 
into  objections,  to  the  theory  of  man's  earthly  business 
being  that  of  an  enlightened  elaborator.  1.  It  may  be 


ADVANTAGES    OF    DIVISION    INTO   NATIONS.  165 

urged  that  if  the  theory  be  true,  more  and  better  work 
would  have  been  done,  had  men  been  united  under  one 
civil  and  political  rule,  instead  of  being  divided  into  mul- 
titudes of  unequal  and  jarring  communities.  A  central 
power  could  have  drawn  forth  and  profitably  directed  the 
energies  of  the  whole,  in  place  of  their  being  frittered 
away  in  isolated  efforts.  The  answer  to  this  is,  that  the 
scheme  is  impossible,  physically  and  morally  ;  and  further, 
if  it  were  practicable  it  would  be  productive  of  no  good, 
as  long  as  the  earth  retains  her  present  organization  and 
the  human  family  is  made  up  of  such  diverse  progenies. 
People  of  the  tropics  can  never  be  the  same  in  tempera- 
ment, tastes,  habits  of  thought  and  feeling  with  those  of 
the  middle  zones,  nor  these  with  occupants  of  the  coldest 
circles.  All  men  could  not  be  included  in  one  civil  polity. 
E  pluribus  unum  is  nature's  motto,  but  not  in  all  the 
senses  some  would  have  it. 

"We  are  sure,  whether  the  causes  are  obvious  or  not, 
that  the  progress  of  science  and  art  is  furthered  by  the 
separation  of  men  into  national  groups,  and  that  to  com- 
press the  dissimilar  materials  into  one  mould  would  be 
fatal  to  all.  As  observable  in  peoples  who  shut  them- 
selves up  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  individual  activities 
would  settle  down  and  be  merged  in  universal  heaviness, 
if  not  torpor ;  the  general  mind  would  become  stationary, 
and  advancement  be  impossible.  The  species  would  form 
one  family,  but  it  would  be  a  family  of  Chinamen ;  and 
it  would  remain  one,  since  there  would  be  no  outside 
Fanquis  to  break  up  its  stereotyped  ideas  and  put  them, 
with  others,  into  new  and  better  combinations.  The  law 
that  elicits  light  by  the  collision  of  mind  with  mind  is  as 


166         LANGUAGES  NOT  PERMANENT, 

necessary  to  prevent  mental  and  material  stagnation  in 
nations  as  in  individuals. 

2.  The  second  objection  is  based  on  what  certainly  does 
retard  progress,  since  it  obstructs  both  the  freedom  and 
cordiality  of  intercourse,  viz.  the  complexities  and  mul- 
tiplicities of  language.  How  did  this  grave  impediment 
to  the  interchange  of  thought  arise,  and  how  long  and  to 
what  extent  is  it  to  endure  ?  Is  it  the  expression  of  an 
organic  law,  or  is  it  due  to  local  and  fleeting  causes,  and 
fated  to  diminish  or  disappear  with  them  1  It  is  reason- 
able to  infer  that  if  the  earth  was  designed  for  a  manu- 
factory, and  a  mart  for  exchange,  provision  would  have 
been  made  for  facile  communion  by  both  oral  and  written 
language  ;  and  that  if  obstacles  were  unavoidable  in  the 
early  days  of  the  establishment,  from  the  operatives  be- 
ing scattered  over  the  earth's  great  provinces,  yet  as  the 
knowledge  of  its  resources  became  general,  and  man  every- 
where sought  to  correspond  with  his  brother  man,  the 
confusion  of  tongues  would  in  a  great  measure  cease.  We 
believe  it  will. 

Language  and  its  origin  have  been  descanted  on  as 
miraculous  and  mysterious.  So  they  are,  but  not  more  so 
than  other  natural  phenomena :  e.  g.  the  languages,  if 
they  may  be  so  called,  of  the  lower  tribes.  Of  these, 
every  species  has  its  own  mode  of  communing  with  its 
kind,  and  hosts  of  them  by  articulate  sounds  which  in 
birds  apparently  exhibit  as  great  a  variety  of  tones  and 
inflexions  as  is  within  the  compass  of  the  human  voice. 
But  animals  make  no  additions  to  their  speech  !  True, 
because  they  make  none  to  their  arts.  Their  means  of 
communication  are  commensurate  with  these,  and  hence 


THEY  ARE  NATURALLY  DEVELOPED.       167 

more  would  have  been  superfluous.  Had  the  inferior 
tribes  been  ordained  to  evolve  novel  processes  of  elabora- 
tion, and  new  forms  into  which  to  work  matter,  their  per- 
ceptive and  expressive  organs  had  necessarily  been  ex- 
panded. Every  man's  language  is  confined  within  the 
circle  of  his  knowledge,  but  then  he  is  intended  to  enlarge 
that  circle. 

This  distinguishing  feature  between  man  and  the  crea- 
tures below  him  has  led  many  writers  to  contend  that  a 
progressive  order  of  beings  differs  so  much  from  those  that 
are  stationary,  that  while  the  laws  which  governed  the 
creation  of  the  latter  sufficed  from  the  beginning  to  meet 
all  subsequent  exigences,  those  of  the  former  were  in- 
sufficient ;  and  hence,  by  a  series  of  special  interpositions 
of  the  Creator,  man  is  thought  to  have  been  instructed 
in  the  elements  of  language  and  of  the  arts.  These 
teachings  are  supposed  to  have  been  continued  down  to 
the  erection  of  the  tower  of  Babel.  Speaking  of  that 
structure,  a  recent  writer  observes : — "  We  have  now 
reached  the  point  where  human  civilization  in  its  collective 
form  ceases  to  depend  on  the  direct  interposition  of 
Omnipotence,  and  where  the  elements  bestowed  by  the 
Creator  are  left  for  their  development  to  human  ingenuity 
and  human  industry."* 

Readiness  to  recognise  the  Creator  in  his  works  is  the 
characteristic  of  every  enlightened  mind.  He  is  blind 
and  deserving  of  pity  who  does  not  perceive  the  All-Per- 
vading Intelligence,  Beneficence,  and  Power  ;  but  it  does 
not  follow  that  he  is  a  sceptic,  or  undevout,  because  he 

*  The  Natural  History  of  Society,  by  W.  C.  Taylor,  LL.D.,  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.  New  York.  1841.  Vol.  j.,  p.  305. 


168          PRINCIPLES    THAT    ORIGINATED    LANGUAGE 

does  not  see  those  special  interferences  or  the  necessity 
for  them.  If  he  acknowledges  the  Creator  as  accom- 
plishing all  things  by  laws  enacted  by  Him,  he  is  as 
faithful,  and,  as  we  believe,  acceptable  a  believer  as  any 
who  advocate  particular  interpositions,  and  therefore  ad- 
mit imperfections  of  those  laws.  One  is  devout  without 
philosophy,  the  other  with  it. 

Primordial  influences  imparted  to  animate  and  inanimate 
matter  are  as  impressive  and  active  as  ever  they  were. 
As  regards  speech,  oral  and  written  language  consists  of 
words,  and  the  invention  of  words  goes  on  now  as  at  the 
beginning,  and  as  it  will  go  on  to  the  end,  for  there  can 
no  more  be  a  language  than  an  art  that  is  not  capable  of 
expansion.  Whenever  a  strange  animal,  bird,  mineral,  or 
aught  else,  occurs  to  an  Indian  of  America  or  Australia, 
he  gives  a  name  to  it ;  one  more  or  less  characteristic, 
and  serving  to  distinguish  it  to  himself  and  his  people. 
Just  so  it  is  with  civilized  man :  the  arts  have  called  and 
are  daily  calling  for  new  words  to  designate  novel  mate- 
rials, forms,  colors,  and  qualities,  while  naturalists,  che- 
mists, and  others  are  coining  them  by  scores  to  represent 
and  express  new  discoveries. 

Indeed,  it  appears  as  obvious  as  any  analogous  matter 
can  be,  that  man  was  as  well  qualified  at  his  creation  to 
develop  and  work  out  the  earthly  destiny  for  which  his 
organization  expressly  fitted  him  as  animals  were  to  work 
out  theirs.  If  either  stood  in  need  of  extraordinary  direc- 
tion, one  would  suppose  it  would  be  the  least  intelligent. 
But  supposing  particular  instruction  was  necessary  to  in- 
duct him  in  the  first  form  of  speech,  which  from  the  pau- 
city of  his  ideas  (the  case  wherever  the  arts  are  not)  must 


ARE    AS   ACTIVE    AS    EVER   THEY   WERE.  169 

have  been  exceedingly  limited  in  its  scope  and  applica- 
tion, was  not  an  equal  or  greater  amount  of  aid  requisite 
to  originate  and  matxire  among  his  descendants  a  thousand 
forms  more  comprehensive  and  expressive  ?  It  is  as  won- 
derful indefinitely  to  diversify  and  extend  a  principle  as 
to  unfold  it — to  construct  a  steam-engine  as  first  to  raise 
steam  in  a  skillet. 

The  same  principles  that  originated  language  and  arts 
led  to  their  varieties,  and  it  did  this  whether  mankind 
was  originally  of  one  family  or  not.  If  they  were  one, 
their  speech  was  confined  to  what  they  knew  while  they 
remained  together,  and  assuredly  their  knowledge  then 
was  almost  nothing,  compared  to  that  which  the  species 
was  to  attain.  As  therefore  the  largest  portion  of  man's 
ideas,  and  of  words  to  express  them,,  had  to  be  acquired 
after  his  dispersion  over  the  earth,  the  process  of  their 
development  would  be  the  same,  or  about  the  same,  as  if 
there  had  been  several  original  centres  of  populations. 
Things  peculiar  to  one  climate  were  named  by  those  who 
became  familiar  with  them,  but  neither  the  names  nor 
the  things  could  be  apprehended  by  those  who  never 
heard  of  either.  Thus,  a  succession  of  new  objects,  im- 
pressions, and  perceptions  arose,  as  men  passed  from  one 
latitude  to  another,  and  unavoidably  gave  birth  to  local 
languages,  which  time  rendered  more  and  more  distinct. 
Inhabitants  of  islands  and  sea-shores  had  one,  necessa- 
rily unintelligible  to  people  that  never  saw  the  ocean,  or 
a  fish.  Moreover,  things  common  to  distant  countries 
could  rarely  be  called  by  the  same  name,  because  they 
do  not  make  the  same  impression  on  all  minds. 

Languages   are   unstable.     They  are   ever  changing. 


170         THE    NUMBER    OF    LANGUAGES    DIMINISHING. 

Most  of  those  spoken  in  the  first  ages  are  wholly  lost, 
and  of  such  as  are  now  spoken,  numbers  are  dying  out. 
The  legions  of  aboriginal  tongues  of  this  hemisphere, 
and  of  Australia,  Oceanica,  of  large  portions  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  are  being  slowly  but  surely  superseded  by  those 
of  the  French  and  English  chiefly.  Why  is  this  ?  Be- 
cause language  is  the  instrument  or  exponent  of  the  arts. 
If  it  is  the  prime  business  of  man  to  cultivate  them,  it  is 
one  of  the  chief  purposes  of  language  to  circulate  the 
knowledge  of  them.  Hence,  where  they  progress  it 
flourisheth,  and  where  they  wither  it  deteriorates.  Past 
history  sufficiently  pointed  out,  but  modern  annals  pro- 
claim aloud  the  truth,  that  henceforth  nations,  kindred, 
tongues,  and  people,  can  endure  only  as  long  as  they  are 
identified  with  the  expansion  of  the  arts.  We  therefore 
hold  that  the  embarrassments  to  the  circulation  of  know- 
ledge arising  from  the  multiplicity  of  tongues,  belong  to 
an  incipient  condition  of  man's  career,  and  will,  in  a 
great  measure,  disappear  as  he  advances. 


SECTION  III. 

MISTAKEN  VIEWS  OF  MATTER,  AND  OF  MAN  AS  AN 

ARTISAN;  WITH  THOUGHTS  ON  THE 

UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ENEMIES   OF   MATERIAL   AND   MORAL   PROGRESS. 

THERE  are  two  classes  whose  mistaken  views  have 
tended  to  retard  material  and  consequently  moral  pro- 
gress ;  one,  influenced  by  sickly  and  depreciating  notions 
of  the  material  world,  for  with  them  spiritual  things  are 
all  in  all ;  the  other  by  conventional  standards  of  genti- 
lity. The  former  think  they  please  heaven  by  casting 
matter  behind  them  ;  the  latter  please  themselves  by 
treading  on  it  in  preference  to  working  in  it.  A  principle 
of  vanity  governs  both,  and  leads  them  to  violate,  as  far 
as  they  can,  a  fundamental  law  of  their  being.  Happily 
the  influence  of  both  is  waning. 

In  assigning  this  earthly  establishment  to  the  charge  of 
man,  God  inserted  in  the  "  Deed  of  Trust,"  a  condition 
on  the  part  of  the  lessee,  which  defined  the  character  he 
was  to  put  on,  and  the  career  he  was  to  run — a  condition 


172   GOD  PROVIDES  MATERIALS  AND  MAN  LABOR. 

which  he  was  abundantly  able  and  specially  qualified  to 
meet.  It  was  this  :  Materials  were  to  be  found  him,  but 
he  was  to  find  LABOR.  This  was  to  be  his  portion  of  the 
working  capital.  On  the  other  hand,  no  restrictions  were 
laid  on  his  undertakings,  and  the  entire  profits  were  to  be 
his  own,  so  that  prosperity  and  every  degree  of  it  were 
to  rest  with  himself.  No  natural  truth  is  more  luminous 
and  patent  than  this.  It  is  written  on  every  leaf  of  cre- 
ation, and  stamped  on  every  human  faculty,  that  man 
was  to  be  "  a  child  of  labor  " — that  for  it  he  was  made, 
and  sent  hither. 

Hence  there  is  nothing  here  to  encourage  the  absorp- 
tion of  life  in  spiritual  thought.  The  mind  is  to  be 
active,  and  active  on  something  else  than  itself  and  for 
itself.  Those  who  have  no  sympathy  with  things  here, 
have  no  business  here.  It  is  in  vain  to  create  and  deco- 
rate worlds  for  them.  To  float  in  some  dreary  corner  of 
the  abyss,  out  of  sight  of  any  orb,  would  answer  their 
purposes  better,  since  no  object  would  then  be  near  to 
break  their  meditations.  The  idea  of  this  sphere  being 
an  inn  to  give  a  few  nights'  lodgings  to  travellers  passing 
hastily  over  it,  the  object  of  whose  journeying  is  too 
high  and  urgent  to  allow  them  to  examine  or  care  for  its 
conveniences — whence  could  it  have  proceeded,  but 
from  the  weakness  that  leads  men  to  magnify  their  voca- 
tions, and  infer  thence  their  own  importance  1  Such  are 
the  absurdities  into  which  those  fall  who  attempt  to  sepa- 
rate what  God  hath  everywhere  united — matter  and 
mind ;  who  insanely  dream  of  pleasing  him,  by  debasing 
one  and  exalting  the  other. 

Man  is  to  be  no  spectral  recluse,  dozing  away  life  over 


ERRONEOUS   VIEWS    OP    MATTER    AND    OP    LABOR.      173 

legends  and  relics  ;  soddening  his  soul  to  the  condition  of 
a  mollusk,  and  limiting  his  views  of  the  world,  like  those 
of  an  oyster,  to  his  cell ;  leaving  the  earth  to  grow  up  a 
jungle,  and  his  thews  and  sinews  to  wither  for  want  of 
employment.  No  !  He  is  to  be  no  dreamer  in-doors, 
but  an  active,  vigorous,  and  refreshing  thinker  and  worker 
without.  How  awful,  then,  is  the  delusion,  which  from 
the  earliest  period  has  made  the  finest  portions  of  the 
earth  mental  deserts  and  the  scenes  of  recurring  famines  ! 
Monasticism  has  flooded  them  with  "Palmer-worms," 
and  wherever  these  have  been,  and  wherever  they  are,  to 
use  the  words  of  a  prophet,  "  the  land  mourneth." 

In  Protestant  countries  the  pagan  delusion,  where  not 
eradicated,  is  held  in  check,  but  in  them  much  of  the  old 
leaven  of  mysticism  remains.  The  true  dignity  of  labor 
and  its  influence  on  morals  and  religion  are  but  partially 
felt.  Doubts  and  fears  prevail  as  to  the  degree  of  estima- 
tion in  which  science  and  arts  should  be  held.  With 
some  to  magnify  matter,  to  anticipate  the  highest  phases 
of  civilization  from  its  developments,  is  making  far  too 
much  of  it,  rendering  men  too  earthly-minded,  and  in- 
ducing indifference  to  the  things  of  a  better  life  !  As  if 
the  fervent  improvement  of  an  earthly  homestead  was 
incompatible  with  the  appreciation  of  a  heavenly  one. 
They  concede  that  working  in  matter  was  to  be  a  feature 
in  man's  character,  but  not  the  most  marked  one,  not 
THE  one  for  which  he  and  the  earth  were  made  precisely 
what  they  are.  That  God  had  no  higher  purpose  in  our 
physical  formation  than  to  make  us  artisans,  some  cannot 
endure.  Their  ideas  of  and  reverence  for  him  are 
offended  at  it.  "With  them  matter  is  an  encumbrance  on 


174      THE  NATURE  OF  MATTER  UNKNOWN. 

the  spirit,  and  evil  associated  with  it ;  hence  they  deem 
it  a  duty  to  hold  themselves  as  loosely  connected  with  it 
as  possible. 

Such  are  the  views  and  feelings  of  sincere,  but  minute- 
ly devout  persons.  They  have  not  the  remotest  idea 
that  profound  knowledge  and  therefore  profound  love  of 
the  works  of  the  Creator,  with  increasing  applications  of 
science  to  the  arts,  must  be  combined  with  true  religion 
and  form  an  important  element  of  it — that  the  natural 
eye  must  be  kept  wide  open  as  the  eye  of  faith.  All  who 
seriously  suppose  the  association  of  man's  immortal  pow- 
ers with  perishing  matter  derogatory,  should  tell  us  by 
what  else  the  soul  can  be  instructed.  They  long  for 
something  better,  something  purer,  something  they  know 
not  what,  and  which  they  certainly  cannot  have;  be- 
cause there  can  be  nothing,  imaginable  or  unimaginable, 
so  well  adapted  to  discipline  the  highest  faculties  of  our 
nature.  If  there  had  been,  it  had  been  given  us. 

There  wants  an  angel's  shriek  in  the  ears  of  these  men 
to  startle  them  from  their  dreamings  and  awaken  them  to 
the  value  of  the  privileges  of  looking  on,  studying,  and 
handling  that  of  which  God  has  moulded  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  by  which  he  educates  the  intelligences  of  all 
worlds,  and  through  which  he  proclaims  his  universal 
purposes  and  power.  What  is  matter  ?  Who  can  tell  ? 
No  finite  beings  can  say  what  its  nature  is.  We  only 
know  that  it  is  prolific  of  wonders.  It  is  the  mirror  of 
the  Creator's  attributes,  the  seed  of  his  beneficence,  the 
agent  of  his  providence  ;  the  visible,  tangible,  and  grandest 
proof  of  his  existence. 

The  study  of  it  exalts  and  adorns  every  Christian  vir- 


SUPERSTITION  RIFE  WHERE   THE  ARTS  ARE  DESPISED.  175 

tue.  It  expands  all  minds,  and  as  they  expand  fills  them 
to  overflowing  with  the  sublimest  views  of  the  Author  of 
the  universe.  It  draws  them  into  communion  with  him 
and  moves  them  to  pity  those  who,  from  mistaken  ideas 
of  him,  pass  through  life  regardless  of  his  works.  And 
it  makes  them  shudder  at  the  grossness  of  much  of  the 
worship  offered  him — as  if  He  were  to  be  complimented, 
like  a  weak-minded  mortal,  with  paeans  of  professional 
songsters,  histrionic  costumes,  and  genuflexions,  bijouterie, 
and  baubles.  All  past  and  not  a  little  of  current  history 
presents  a  picture  of  intellect  thus  smothered,  and  of  phy- 
sical energies  thus  shackled.  We  need  look  no  further 
than  this  hemisphere.  In  the  southern  half,  it  has  been, 
and  still  is,  made  the  chief  business  of  the  people  to  carry 
on  what  they  are  taught  to  believe  is  a  holy  war ;  and 
with  the  view  of  prosecuting  it  successfully,  to  keep  up 
a  perpetual  series  of  verbal  flatteries,  and  requests  ad- 
dressed to  swarms  of  dead  men  and  women,  who  when 
living  never  heard  of  either  them  or  their  country.  Now 
what  have  been  the  attainments  of  one  of  the  finest 
branches  of  the  human  family  under  such  a  regime  ? 
Where  are  their  arts,  literature,  and  science  ?  Have  they 
for  three  centuries  contributed  aught  towards  human  pro- 
gress ?  Verily,  man  has  something  else  to  do  here  than 
fighting  under  sacerdotal  leaders  for  church  systems  and 
formulas. 

The  souls  of  nations  wither  in  philosophical  and  reli- 
gious dogmas  and  abstractions.  The  visions  of  Indian 
and  other  Fakirs  have  entailed  mental  and  material  des- 
titution and  imbecility  on  a  large  part  of  the  earth.  But 
a  change  has  to  come,  and  will  come,  over  men's  mindg 


176  AGRICULTURAL    LABOR. 

respecting  the  relationship  of  matter  to  the  intellect  and 
morals.  Every  day  is  adding  force  to  the  doctrine  that 
the  emancipation  of  the  soul  is  inseparably  connected 
with  progress  in  the  arts,  and  that  it  never  has  and  never 
can  outrun  them. 

But  arrogance  is  not  confined  to  one  class.  There  are 
other  classes — those  who  also  imagine  themselves  the 
earth's  caryatides — who  think  it  is  their  heads  and  hands 
that  keep  the  heavens  from  falling.  Of  these  are  many 
who  despise  manual  labor,  and  hold  themselves  superior 
to  those  that  practise  it.  With  them  society  should  al- 
ways retain  its  past  resemblance  to  a  living  pyramid — 
one  class  standing  on  the  shoulders  of  another,  each 
lighter  and  less  numerous,  up  to  one  or  two  posture- 
makers  at  the  top,  the  largest  class  at  the  base  being 
the  least  regarded,  although  the  entire  superstructure 
rests  on  them,  and  its  stability  too. 

But  in  spite  of  the  general  discredit,  not  to  say  odium, 
attached  to  manipulating  labor,  necessity  led  to  an  excep- 
tion in  favor  of  agriculture.  A  powerful  element  bearing 
on  their  interests,  old  statesmen  wisely  magnified  it,  and 
thus  it  has  continued  to  be  a  staple  theme  for  orators  and 
poets  to  descant  on.  Great  men  applaud  it,  and  it  is 
honorable  ;  while  other  departments  of  industry,  imply- 
ing, to  say  the  least,  equal  knowledge  and  skill,  not  hav- 
ing been  thus  patronized,  are  still  associated  with  ideas 
of  something  low  and  vulgar.  But  for  this  it  had  always 
been  deemed  as  respectable  to  invent  a  plough  as  to  use 
it,  to  construct  a  carriage  as  to  ride  in  one.  There  is  per- 
haps nothing  more  strongly  indicative  of  the  present 
being  an  early  stage  of  man's  career,  than  the  prevalence 


FATAL    ERROR    OF    ANCIENT    NATIONS.  177 

of  the  barbarous  sentiment  that  associates  meanness  with 
labor,  that  holds  it  inconsistent  with  dignity,  and  even 
respectability.  Hence  the  doctrine  that  man  was  cre- 
ated a  manufacturer  scandalizes  those  "  respectable  fami- 
lies "  who  pride  themselves  on  being  something  better, 
and  distresses  small-minded  individuals,  who,  accidentally 
elevated  to  high  places,  twinge  at  the  remembrance  of 
having  once  labored  for  a  living  with  their  hands. 

Ashamed  to  work  in  matter !  Why,  if  we  may  specu- 
late on  the  future,  it  may  well  be  that  few  things  will 
afford  greater  surprise  to  other  orders  of  intelligences, 
than  that  we,  minikin  occupants  of  a  globule,  compared 
to  some  orbs,  should,  in  our  transcendent  pride  and  im- 
pertinence, have  deemed  manipulating  in  it  disreputable  ! 
ind  some  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  death  releasing  them 
rom  further  contact  with  it — from  that  which  is  every- 
where showing  forth  the  glory  of  God,  and  everywhere 
obeying  him  !  To  such  minds  it  would  be  blasphemous 
to  describe  the  material  universe  as  a  host  of  locomotive 
carriages,  of  which  suns  are  furnaces  and  engines,  and 
planets  passenger-cars  and  tenders. 

The  sentiment  may  now  be  passed  over  as  a  harmless 
error;  but  it  is  in  fact  one  which  has  been  the  great 
bane  of  human  progress  in  all  ages.  The  old  Greeks 
and  Romans  have  not  been  surpassed,  if  equalled,  in 
poetry,  painting,  sculpture,  and  other  "  fine"  arts ;  had 
they  cultivated  with  equal  ardor  the  useful  arts,  they 
might  have  realized  steamers,  railroads,  gas-lights,  and 
all  the  great  modern  agents  of  civilization,  and  continued 
down  to  our  times  with  increasing  power  and  glory.  But 
they  committed  the  fatal  error  of  older  people,  of  classing 

3* 


178  MAN    NOT    DESIGNED   TO    BE    A    DRUDGE. 

mechanical  professions  under  the  general  designation  of 
"  servile"  and  consigning  them  to  slaves — thus  adopting 
the  most  infallible  means  to  arrest  improvement,  and  in- 
sure their  own  national  decadence  and  death.  That  the 
prosperity  and  duration  of  nations  depend  on  the  in- 
creasing applications  of  science  to  the  arts,  is  the  lesson, 
which,  above  all  others,  history  teaches  ;  and  strange  to 
say,  most  nations  have  yet  to  learn  it.  There  is  not  one, 
and  there  cannot  be  one,  more  vital  to  humanity ;  nor  is 
there  one,  the  neglect  of  which  has  been  so  uniformly 
and  so  fearfully  punished. 

Prevailing  ideas  of  labor  are  necessarily  crude,  because 
it  is  viewed  only  in  its  earliest  and  hence  in  its  coarsest 
aspects.  We  live  at  too  early  a  period  of  its  development 
to  witness,  or  perhaps  to  appreciate,  its  highest  phases  of 
refinement  and  results.  When  it  becomes  everywhere 
combined  with  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  it  is  designed 
to  invoke  and  apply,  it  will  be  prosecuted  with  pleasure 
and  impart  a  healthful  vigor  to  both  body  and  mind. 
As  man  progresses  the  lowering  clouds  now  hanging  over 
it  will,  one  by  one,  break  away,  and  let  in  light  and  radi- 
ance. A  chief  means  by  which  this  will  be  brought 
about  is  already  observable  in  the  effect  produced  by 
inorganic  motors.  To  the  energy  in  these  there  are  no 
assignable  limits :  they  are  incontestable  proofs  that 
man  is  not  designed  for  a  drudge,  for  as  they  are  increased 
he  exercises  his  mental  powers  more,  and  those  of  his 
muscles  less,  while  the  amount  of  work  and  its  products 
are  indefinitely  augmented. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    DIVINE    CHARACTER    DISPLAYED    IN   NATURAL 
MECHANISM. 

LEADING  traits  of  character  are  discernible  in  the  labors 
of  animals.  We  discover  what  may  be  called  the  turn  of 
thought  of  the  beaver  in  the  construction  of  his  dam,  of 
the  bee  in  its  cell,  of  the  spider  in  its  web,  and  the  bent 
of  human  genius  in  human  arts.  So  it  is  with  the  works 
of  the  Creator.  It  has  pleased  him  to  display  his  attri- 
butes in  material  mechanism  ;  to  fill  the  heavens  with  it, 
and  to  furnish  us  with  specimens  in  this  earth.  We  find 
everything  in  it  and  on  it  made  up  of  the  same  elements 
that  carpenters,  smiths,  and  other  artificers  work  in,  and 
its  motions  and  forces  literal  as  those  of  a  water-wheel  or 
steam-engine.  It  is,  moreover,  prepared  as  a  special  thea- 
tre for  artificial  mechanisms,  on  the  development  of  which 
the  welfare  of  our  species  is  made  to  depend.  His  charac- 
ter as  a  mechanician  is  therefore  pre-eminently  in  accord 
with  his  works,  and  in  his  making  it  the  first  and  last 
duty  of  man  to  excel  as  one — i.  e.  to  imitate  him. 
"Architect"  and  "Architecture  of  the  Heavens  "  are  terms 
mostly  used  because  more  in  unisoii  with  current  ideas  of 
respectability ;  but  they  are  improper,  since  the  impression 
they  convey  is  not  a  correct  one.  With  the  works  of 
architects,  as  a  house,  a  bridge,  &c.,  we  necessarily  asso- 
ciate ideas  of  fixedness  and  immobility,  while  motion  and 


180        INFLUENCE  OF  THE  ARTS  ON  MIND  AND  MORALS. 

change  of  place  are  essential  characteristics  of  the  universe. 
It  is  a  display  of  forces  and  motions — there  is  nothing  in 
it  at  rest. 

The  idea  that  there  is  neither  as  much  nor  as  high  an 
order  of  thought  expended  in  the  operative  arts  as  in  law, 
medicine,  divinity,  and  other  "  professions,"  and  that  its 
effects  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  world  are  less  and  less 
beneficial,  is  erroneous  in  every  particular.  Examine  it 
thoroughly,  and  the  converse  of  the  proposition  will  be 
found  unmistakably  true.  Glance  over  both  land  and 
water,  and  behold  what  manipulators  have  done,  and  for 
a  summary  of  present  results  visit  the  "  Exhibition  of  the 
Industry  of  all  Nations,"  and  observe  there  how  physical 
become  moral  blessings ;  how  the  understanding  and  the 
heart  improve  with  the  cultivation  of  matter ;  what 
health-giving,  soul-elevating,  and  heaven-inspiring  proper- 
ties it  has,  and  then  say,  as  some  do,  "  where  the  hands 
work  the  brain  is  dormant." 

The  "  fine  arts  "  were  worshipped  of  old,  and  modern 
amateurs  are  at  a  loss  for  language  to  express  the  depth 
of  their  devotion  to  what  they  call  the  product  of  the 
imagination  and  taste,  in  contradistinction  to  the  "  indus- 
trial arts,"  which  are  said  to  depend  more  on  the  hand 
than  the  head.  The  sentiment  belongs  to  an  incipient 
rather  than  to  an  advanced  stage  in  human  education,  for 
as  science  progresses  the  artificer  originates  and  embodies 
more  thrilling  and  sublime  conceptions  than  were  evfcr 
portrayed  by  the  crayon.  Then  some  of  these,  at  least, 
are  to  be  absorbed  by  the  mechanic  arts.  Embroidery, 
the  employment  of  ladies  of  taste  from  the  time  of  Pene- 
lope of  Ithaca  to  ours,  is  now  done  by  machinery.  The 


THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT  THE  TRUE  PRIME  MOVER.      181 

painter's  brush  and  engraver's  burin  are  being  superseded 
by  chemical  manipulations.  Books  will  soon  be  illustrated, 
as  portfolios  are  being  enriched,  with  photographic  pic- 
tures, which,  for  correctness  and  fulness  of  outline,  .depth 
and  delicacy  of  shading,  minuteness  of  finish,  and  effect, 
no  artist  can  begin  to  rival.  The  great  problem  of  En- 
graving by  the  agency  of  light  is  also  solved,  so  that  the 
graver,  like  the  needle,  will  become  in  a  great  degree 
a  thing  of  the  past. 

But  does  not  this  exaltation  of  matter  tend  to  resolve 
life  and  consciousness  into  it  ?  No.  There  may  be  mind 
without  matter,  but  there  can  be  no  matter  without  mind, 
neither  form,  color,  quality,  nor  quantity.  We  view  na- 
tural productions  as  the  immediate  result  of  influences  in 
active  operation  in  nature,  and  the  achievements  of  man 
in  the  arts  as  the  effect  of  forces  upon  inert  substances ; 
but  these  forces,  whether  organic  or  inorganic,  are  value- 
less as  motors  unless  subject  to  another  kind  of  power — 
THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT.  This,  in  truth,  is  the  only 
Prime  Mover.  From  it  all  creations,  hilman'and  divine, 
proceed,  and  hence  the  material  everywhere  refers  to  the 
immaterial.  It  is  thus  we  learn  that  not  only  knowledge 
is  power,  but  that  there  can  be  no  power — no  physical 
power — without  it ;  that  all  material  are  resolvable  into 
mental  forces ;  that  worlds  were  made  for  the  cultivation 
of  intellect ;  and  that  the  streams  of  knowledge  circulating 
through  them  flow  from  the  mind  of  Him  whose  hands 
formed  them  all.  A  ship  is  not  a  stronger  proof  of  the 
existence  and  intelligence  of  man  than  is  an  animal  or  a 
plant  of  those  of  God. 

Matter  is  the  day-book  in  which  man's  accounts  are  re- 


182  ALL    KNOWLEDGE    WRITTEN    ON    MATTER. 

corded  :  all  knowledge  is  directly  or  indirectly  written  on 
it.  There  is  in  fact  a  mathematical  relationship,  or  some- 
thing like  it,  between  elaborated  matter  and  mind,  so  that 
the  amount  of  the  latter  can  be  deduced  from  the  former  ; 
for  every  object  of  art  is  the  repository  or  representative 
of  a  certain  amount  of  thought,  and  so  is  every  crop  a 
planter  reaps,  and  everything  else  on  which  mind  has 
been  expended.  The  industry  of  an  age  or  of  a  people 
is  as  the  vegetable  and  animal  products  they  grow  and 
minerals  they  raise,  while  their  position  on  the  scale  of 
progress  is  marked  by  the  elaboration  they  give  to  those 
substances,  and  the  uses  they  make  of  them.  Had  we 
statistics  of  the  Past  to  compare  with  those  of  the  Pre- 
sent, a  constant  relationship  would  be  found  to  subsist 
between  the  mass  of  matter  manipulated  in  any  given 
period  and  the  sum  of  contemporaneous  knowledge. 

Those  who  depreciate  matter  know  not  what  they  owe 
it.  They  view  it  regardless  of  the  mind,  the  infinity  of 
mind,  that  pervades  it.  They  forget  that  it  is  the  agent 
of  thought ;  that  every  object  in  nature  is  a  visible,  ste- 
reotyped truth,  just  as  in  the  world  of  art  a  saw,  a  nail, 
or  a  printing-press  is  another  ;  that  man,  like  his  Creator, 
makes  matter  not  only  the  recipient  of  thoughts,  but  sends 
it  forth  a  missionary  to  circulate  them.  Take  away  all 
our  ideas  that  emanate  from  and  are  allied  to  matter,  and 
how  few  would  be  left !  Our  minds  would  be  nearly 
blanks.  This  is  not  a  world  for  the  cultivation  of  thought 
in  the  abstract,  i.  e.  of  purely  intellectual  conceptions. 
There  are  few  such,  and  few  minds  to  pursue  them,  while 
those  flowing  from  outward  things  are  exhaustless  in  va- 
riety, attraction,  and  value.  Matter  is  the  universal 


GREAT   SERMONS   IN    TRADES.  133 

teacher  and  preacher.  It  has  broken  no  laws,  it  sanctions 
no  disputes,  but  silently  exhibits  its  doctrines,  which  no 
one  can  interpolate  or  cornipt,  with  illustrations  infinitely 
diversified  from  day  to  day.  All  its  manifestations,  from 
a  snowdrop  to  a  world,  exclaim,  "  The  hand  that  made 
us  is  Divine." 

There  are  great  sermons  in  occupations  and  trades 
(but  few  are  preached),  based  as  they  are  on  the  physical 
embodiments  of  Divine  wisdom,  and  embracing  all  the 
miracles  of  science  and  art.  They  show  how  the  original 
precept  given  to  the  head  of  our  race,  to  bend  the  things 
of  nature  to  the  purposes  of  improvement,  strengthens, 
when  carried  out,  every  social,  moral,  and  religious  senti- 
ment. Why,  then,  not  teach  that  there  is  a  Divinity  in 
every  particle  of  matter,  in  the  commonest ;  that  laboring 
in  it,  so  far  from  being  profane,  is  a  sacred  work ;  that 
those  who  draw  active  forces  from  it  are  not  simply  doing 
the  will  of  God,  but  are  engaged  in  one  of  the  noblest 
tasks  enjoined  by  him  on  our  species.  Why  not  enforce 
more,  the  first  and  great  commandment  in  the  midst  of 
such  prevailing  heresies  respecting  it,  and  strive  to  anni- 
hilate the  spirit  of  lay  sect,  or  caste,  that  has  so  long 
marred  the  old  gospel — presuming  that  God,  like  some  of 
us,  smiles  more  on  some  divisions  of  laborers  than  on 
others,  and  most  of  all  on  men  who  labor  not  at  all. 

The  popular  absurdity  that  labor  was  imposed  as  a 
punishment  receives  no  sanction  from  the  Scriptures — not 
a  particle.  The  original  and  all-comprehending  injunc- 
tion, "  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it,"  was  given  before 
"  the  fall."  In  it,  the  true  relationship  of  man  to  the 
earth,  and  the  business  of  his  life,  are  compressed  in  half- 


184  SUPPOSED  VISIT  OF  TWO  STRANGERS  TO  THE  EARTH. 

a-dozen  words.  On  agrictilture  and  the  arts  his  powers, 
menial  and  physical,  were  to  be  concentrated.  No  inti- 
mation of  limits  to  his  progress  in  them  is  conveyed.  They 
were  the  germs  from  which  his  prosperity  was  to  arise, 
and  from  their  ever-growing  developments  the  ripest  fruits 
were  to  be  gathered.  Nothing  else  is  mentioned,  because 
all  things  else  were  to  arise  from  and  centre  in  them. 

To  work,  in  one  way  or  another,  for  a  living,  is  a  ne- 
cessity with  all  creatures,  but  then  it  is  associated  with 
and  made  conducive  to  pleasure.  To  renew  their  ex- 
hausted strength,  food  and  rest  are  requisite  ;  and  these 
the  Creator  has,  in  his  benevolence,  made  sources  of  en- 
joyment. Then,  relaxation  is  essential ;  and  who  has  not 
observed  how  conspicuous  is  the  enlivening  of  labor  with 
recreations  and  diversions !  Birds  interrupt  the  toil  of 
building  nests  and  collecting  food  with  their  carols ;  and 
all  animated  tribes  have  their  seasons  of  buoyancy  and 

joy- 
Were  two  strangers  from  another  planet  to  take  a 
stand  outside  of  our  globe  and  contemplate,  as  it  tiimed 
on  its  axis  before  them,  the  operations  kept  up  on  its  sur- 
face by  battalions  of  working  men,  the  changes  matter 
undergoes  in  their  hands,  the  employment  it  affords  for 
every  variety  of  mental  and  physical  organization,  the 
diversity  of  talents  and  tastes  it  elicits,  the  learning  and 
science  it  fosters  ;  the  individual,  social,  national,  and 
mundane  blessings  it  confers  and  leads  to  ;  and  were  they 
to  observe  how  earnest  and  constant  nature  is  in  bringing 
it  into  conditions  suitable  for  those  artists  to  take  it  up  ; 
could  they  resist  the  conviction  that  the  earth  is  a  divine- 
ly appointed  school  for  manipulating  in  matter,  and  that 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    ARTS    ON    THE    FUTURE    LIFE.     185 

man's  highest  destinies  must  depend  on  the  expenditure 
of  deep  thought  and  intelligent  labor  upon  it?  After 
noting  the  divisions  of  labor  current  with  us,  and  the  con- 
tributions of  each  of  the  great  classes  into  which  society 
is  divided,  would  they  be  led  to  award  honor  according 
to  the  rules  of  court  heralds  ? 

Suppose  they  came  as  delegates  from  a  newly  formed 
orb,  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  progress  we 
had  made  and  the  manner  of  it,  and  to  engage  a  class  of 
men  to  introduce  our  best  things  to  their  people,  they 
would  of  course  be  invited  to  step  into  the  Crystal  Pa- 
lace, and  there  see  how  far  we  had  succeeded  in  rivalling 
nature  in  the  diversity,  elegance,  utility,  and  beneficence 
of  our  productions.  Would  they,  after  consulting  toge- 
ther, ask  for  a  corps  of  statesmen  to  return  with  them,  or  of 
warriors,  lawyers,  or  poets  ;  or  would  they  not  ask  for  a 
company  of  scientific  artificers  of  men  who  not  only  study 
principles,  but  fulfil  the  purpose  of  the  Creator  in  ordain- 
ing principles  by  applying  them  to  the  prime  elements  of 
mental  and  material  elevation  ? 

Whatever  may  be  the  nature  and  occupations  of  a 
future  existence,  or  the  influence  of  the  present  life  upon 
it,  the  professional  character  of  man  here,  as  drawn  from 
his  general  employment,  and  the  general  result  of  that 
employment,  is,  and  must  always  be,  that  which  has  been 
named.  To  work  in  matter,  to  put  up  his  sleeves,  handle 
and  elaborate  it,  to  bring  all  the  powers  of  his  mind  to 
bear  on  it,  is  his  earthly  business ;  and  we  may  be  very 
sure  that  it  cannot  conflict  with  his  future  employments — 
nay,  that  it  must  be  eminently  conducive  to  them.  To 
be  satisfied  of  this  we  need  only  look  at  the  acquisitions 


186  NEW   TEACHINGS    ON    MATTER. 

he  has  made  in  it,  and  compare  them  with  those  of  non- 
working,  non-inventing  tribes,  and  observe  their  effects 
on  society — that  where  they  are,  men  are  more  kind, 
charitable,  forbearing,  intelligent,  and  religious  than  where 
they  are  not.  And  how  can  it  be  otherwise !  Should 
not  those  who  study  and  employ  themselves  on  that  which 
God  has  adopted  for  the  universal  manifestation  of  Him- 
self— that  on  which  he  imprints  his  thoughts,  and  every- 
where clothes  his  conceptions — be  wiser  and  better  than 
those  who  disdain  it.  Forming  the  first  course  of  studies 
and  discipline  of  immortals,  it  may,  for  aught  we  know,  be 
the  subject  of  all  succeeding  courses.  There  are  doubt- 
less mysteries  in  it  which  eternity  will  not  suffice  to  re- 
veal. Its  properties  are  probably  as  numerous  as  the  per- 
mutation of  its  atoms.  Were  not  everlasting  good  to  be 
derived  from  it,  the  universe  had  not  been  made  of  it,  nor 
the  occupants  of  the  universe  been  put  apprentices  to 
work  in  it.  Neither  philosophy  nor  the  scriptures  affirm 
that  any  intelligences  exist  who  have  not  acquired  their 
knowledge  through  it. 

When  the  value  of  the  lessons  laid  up  in  matter  begins 
to  be  understood,  and  the  supremacy  of  labor  to  be  ac- 
knowledged, there  will  no  longer  be  a  shrinking  from 
dilating  upon  them.  Christian  ministers  and  moralists 
will  dwell,  and  delightedly  dwell,  on  the  character  of 
THE  MECHANICIAN  which  the  Creator  has  chosen  not 
in  one,  but  in  all  orbs  to  appear  in.  They  will  perceive 
divine  revelations  in  principles  of  science,  and  enforce 
their  applications  in  the  arts  as  essential  to  spiritual  ele- 
vation. They  will  recognise  in  the  "  Mechanical  Pow- 
ers" a  table  of  laws  written  by  the  finger  of  God,  and 


NO    DISCOVERER    LIVES   TO    HIMSELF.  187 

admit  the  inspiration  of  modern  as  of  ancient  engineers. 
They  will  teach  that  God  is  as  near  to  us,  communes  as 
directly  with  us,  in  the  doctrines  of  physics  as  in  disputed 
creeds,  ceremonies,  and  forms  of  faith  ;  that  in  science 
and  art  no  discoverer  lives  to  himself ;  and  that  as  every 
one  is  to  be  rewarded  according  to  his  works,  those  who 
have  been  useful  in  advancing  the  arts  of  industry  and 
peace  will  not  he  overlooked  ;  nay,  that  God  will  welcome 
them,  and  hid  those  who  passively  or  proudly  floated  on 
the  tides  and  currents  of  life  to  stand  aside  and  make 
way  for  them. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER  AND  OF  MECHANISM. 

IT  is  marvellous  that  any  created  being  should  be 
able  to  study  its  own  organization,  and  reason  on  the 
causes  and  modes  of  its  existence  ;  that  man,  a  piece  of 
animated  matter,  should  pry  into  his  own  structure,  and, 
by  dissecting  the  bodies  of  his  fellows,  find  out  the  rea- 
sons that  determined  the  forms  and  proportions  of  his  own 
organs  ;  and  that  he  should  then  turn  from  himself  and  in- 
quire into  the  nature  and  attributes  of  the  Author  of  his 
being  !  The  wonder  is  not  greater  than  if  balls  of  clay 
in  the  hands  of  a  potter  should  ask  "  What  doest  thoul" 
or  if  spinning-jennies  and  power-looms  were  to  pause  in 
their  movements  to  inquire  why  they  were  made.  Man 


188  HUMAN    ASPIRATIONS    ILLIMITABLE. 

is  a  tissue  of  marvels ;  Ins  little  seething  brain,  as  if  a 
part  of  the  Godhead  were  located  in  it,  spurns  at  boun- 
daries to  his  thoughts.  He  neither  confines  them  to  the 
world  he  occupies  nor  to  the  visible  heavens,  but  urges 
them  through  the  invisible  depths  of  space  to  learn,  if 
possible,  what  is  doing  there.  Nor  is  this  all :  not  con- 
tent with  employing  them  on  things  of  the  present,  he 
sends  them  into  the  future,  and  exercises  them  on  the 
past.  He  is  told,  that  in  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth ;  but  he  longs  to  know  hoAv  they 
were  produced — by  what  principles  and  processes  they 
were  developed  and  are  sustained. 

That  this  amazing  faculty  is  given  for  the  great  pur- 
poses of  his  education,  it  were  a  truism  to  assert ;  more 
than  anything  else  it  shows  how  illimitable  are  the  soul's 
aspirations.  As  for  imaginings  of  what  was  before  the 
sidereal  heavens  appeared,  they  can  hardly  be  carried 
further  than  a  supposed  condition  of  things,  which  may 
be  illustrated  by  a  discovery  made  some  years  ago  of  a 
subterranean  structure,  of  unknown  origin  and  antiquity. 
The  proprietor  entered  with  a  light ;  his  voice  reverbe- 
rated along  the  arches,  and  the  dark  and  silent  chambers 
were  instantly  charged  with  clouds  of  dancing  atoms 
awakened  into  motion  by  his  presence.  So,  it  has  been 
suggested,  was  the  cold  and  boundless  abyss  first  charged 
by  the  voice  of  God  with  the  dust  of  which  stars  are 
made. 

Wherever  matter  is,  it  proclaims  the  Builder  of  the 
universe,  and  discloses  more  or  less  of  his  plans.  But 
why  W8S  it  produced  at  all,  since  he  requires  for  himself 
no  visible  or  tangible  manifestations  of  his  ideas,  nor  any 


FOR  WHAT  MATTER  WAS  CREATED.  189 

such  moans  to  record  or  peruse  them  1  It  arose  then  for 
some  other  purpose,  and  what  was  thai  ?  Surely,  that  it 
might  be  an  arena  for  sensitive  beings.  From  pure  bene- 
ficence creation  came  ;  beneficence,  whose  essence  is  ex- 
pansion ;  which  ceases  to  be  when  it  ceases  to  dilate, 
which  cannot  be  confined  in  the  breast  even  of  the  Deity. 
Through  it  the  universe  is  working  out  the  divinest  of 
problems — the  diffusion  of  the  largest  amount  and  diver- 
sity of  enjoyment  among  the  greatest  variety  of  recipi- 
ents. Hence,  every  form  that  matter  here  puts  on,  every 
condition  and  change  of  condition  in  it,  is  made  an  occa- 
sion to  introduce  fresh  beings  to  disport  themselves  in 
the  varying  media.  In  this  view,  how  admirable  is  the 
principle  of  limiting  life,  that  legions  enjoying  it  may  be 
multiplied  till  they  equal  or  surpass  the  atoms  of  which 
worlds  are  composed !  Every  particle  of  matter  is  the 
agent  and  symbol  of  enjoyment. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  space  is  swarming  with 
worlds  ;  and  that  vast  as  our  field  of  view  is,  it  takes  up 
no  more  room  compared  to  the  whole,  than  does  an  insect 
in  our  atmosphere '?  Suppose  the  universe  had  been  alto- 
gether inorganic,  without  a  pulse  beating  in  it,  or  an  eye 
to  glance  over  it,  would  it  not  have  been  a  fruitless  dis- 
play of  Almighty  power  1  But  how  different  the  reality  ! 
Instead  of  existing  alone,  wrapped  up  in  his  own  felicity 
and  perfections,  He  has  made  matter  the  agent  of  eter- 
nally diffusing  both. 

What  the  future  destiny  of  the  myriads  of  floating 
worlds  and  their  populations  is  to  be,  no  one  can  tell,  nor 
why  the  Almighty  adopted  the  existing  plan  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  he  created  mat- 


190  WHY  ALL  MATTER  IS  NOT  GATHERED  INTO  ONE  ORB. 

ter,  and  everywhere  appears  as  The  Great  Artificer  in  it ; 
that  he  has  ordained  an  essential  intimacy  between  it  and 
finite  intelligences  ;  commences  their  being  with  it ;  makes 
it  the  medium  for  the  development,  expansion,  and  em- 
ployment of  thought,  by  transfusing  his  wisdom  through 
it,  and  making  it  their  duty  to  seek  that  wisdom  out — i.  e. 
to  discover  the  laws  impressed  on  it,  and  by  acting  in  ac- 
cordance with  them,  to  evolve  from  it  all  sciences  and 
arts. 

Is  it  asked  why  He  has  not  gathered  matter  into  a  sin- 
gle orb,  and  made  it  the  ONE  abode  of  physical  beings, 
instead  of  dividing  it  into  innumerable  and  varying  vo- 
lumes, and  so  widely  separating  them  as  to  exclude  all 
intercourse  between  their  occupants  1  1.  Perhaps,  be- 
cause all  matter  would  then  have  subsisted  under  the 
same  conditions,  while  its  developments  would  have 
been  confined  to  those  conditions.  Creation  would  have 
been  after  one  pattern.  2.  Because  only  a  very  superfi- 
cial portion  of  matter  could  have  been  brought  under  ob- 
servation and  control ;  almost  the  whole  would  have  been 
locked  up  in  subterranean  depths,  which  no  finite  minds 
could  fathom,  and  out  of  which  no  finite  powers  could 
withdraw  it.  Were  physical  intelligences  not  created  to 
be  elaborators  of  matter,  the  plan  might  have  been 
adopted ;  but  if  they  were  everywhere  to  grow  up  with  it, 
if  their  duties  and  destinies  were  inseparably  associated 
with  it,  then  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be  made  ac- 
cessible ;  and  how  beautifully  this  is  accomplished  by 
breaking  it  up  into  large  and  small  bodies,  arranging  them 
in  groups,  launching  them  into  the  utmost  boundaries  of 
space,  lighting  up  the  whole,  and  thronging  all  with  ope- 


NO  ADVANTAGE  FROM  VISITING  OTHER  WORLDS.        191 

ratives  adapted  to  the  work  to  be  done  on  each  !  By  this 
plan  the  conditions  under  which  the  material  of  the  uni- 
verse subsists,  are  infinitely  more  diversified  than  if  col- 
lected in  one  orb,  and  consequently  its  developments 
also. 

How  wise,  then,  and  how  good  in  thus  spreading  abroad 
this  most  miraculous,  and  eternally  incomprehensible 
agent  of  Himself  in  portions  suitable  for  finite  intelli- 
gences to  explore  !  And  then  is  it  not  well  that  the  occu- 
pants are  confined  to  their  respective  locations  ?  Were 
they  at  liberty  to  pass  from  one  orb  to  another  their 
physical  organization  would  be  unequal  to  the  change, 
while,  from  the  widely  different  conditions  under  which 
matter  exists,  what  they  found  new  abroad  would  be 
inapplicable  at  home.  Though  an  interchange  of  ideas 
with  operatives  of  other  planets  would  be  of  surpassing 
interest,  it  could  lead  to  no  very  marked  advance  of  the 
arts  in  any  of  them,  for  the  reason  just  named.  As  with 
our  cosmical  neighbors  so  with  us — there  can  be  no  materi- 
als more  desirable  than  those  we  have  ;  while  for  attain- 
ing the  knowledge  of  turning  them  to  account  there  can 
be  no  better  place  than  the  one  to  which  they  are  indige- 
nous. 

No  sufficient  reason  can  be  given  why  this  portion  of 
the  heavens  which  we  occupy  should  not  rival  others  in 
the  intelligence  of  its  denizens,  because  the  source  of  that 
intelligence,  the  wisdom  of  the  Great  Teacher,  though 
differently  manifested  according  to  the  constitution  of 
each  world,  is  as  perfectly  displayed  here  as  elsewhere. 

The  notion  that  the  numerous  small  orbs  between 
Mars  and  Jupiter  are  fragments  of  a  large  one,  which  by 


192  PLANETOIDS  NOT  FRAGMENTS  OF  A  RUPTURED  PLANET 

some  catastrophe  became  exploded,  is  repugnant  to  the 
laws  of  harmony  and  conservatism  that  pervade  the 
heavens.  The  planetoids  are  said  to  break  the  symmetry 
of  the  system  which  requires  them  to  be  gathered  into 
one  body — a  mere  conjecture.  If  one  of  the  purposes  of 
the  Creator  in  the  production  of  worlds  be  to  furnish 
matter  for  intelligences  to  act  on,  that  purpose  may 
require  it  to  vary  in  its  volumes  to  a  greater  extent  than 
is  yet  observable,  every  orb  in  that  respect  being  adapt- 
ed to  the  capacities  and  wants  of  those  located  on  it ;  in 
other  words,  the  dimensions  of  each  homestead  are  deter- 
mined by  the  size  of  the  family  and  the  character  of  its 
members.  The  materials  of  the  small  planets  referred  to, 
assuredly  serve  as  wise  a  purpose  as  if  they  had  been 
rolled  into  one. 

We  associate  magnificence  with  magnitude  and  mean- 
ness with  minuteness,  but  God  does  not.  With  him 
nothing  is  little  or  large.  Dimension !  what  is  it ! — an 
adjunct.  Our  home  is  quite  a  small  one  compared  with 
many ;  had  it  been  less,  we  might  have  been  less  pugna- 
cious and  not  have  dishonored  it  with  wars  of  races  and 
nations.  There  is  no  occasion  for  us  to  volunteer  pity 
for  people  on  worlds  smaller  than  our  own  ;  the  happiness 
of  land  proprietors  does  not  swell  with  the  expansion  of 
their  estates.  Knowledge  and  its  best  fruits  depend  not 
on  extent  of  territory  here,  nor  have  we  any  reason  to 
suppose  they  do  anywhere.  There  may  be  Pitcairn- 
Islanders  in  the  heavens,  perfectly  happy  in  their  little 
domicils,  who  could  not  be  benefited  by  living  on  wider 
spheres  ;  with  them  knowledge  may  be  further  advanced 
and  more  condensed  than  with  us.  Let  the  idea  be  re- 


DIVERSE    FORMS    OF    WORLDS.  193 

ceived  that  the  volume  of  matter  in  each  orb  is  adapted 
for  those  that  dwell  on  it,  and  there  will  be  no  more  diffi- 
culty in  accounting  for  small  than  for  large  ones. 

But  in  the  grand  panorama  might  not  diversity  in 
the  form  of  worlds  be  expected,  as  well  as  in  their  dimen- 
sions ?  The  human  mind  could  never  of  itself  have  sug- 
gested any  suitable  figure,  and  now  that  science  has 
shown  our  heavens  to  be  radiant  with  spheres,  the  imagi- 
nation is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  any  other  outline  possible  ; 
but  as  infinite  wisdom  is  infinitely  varied,  it  cannot  be 
confined  to  one  form,  even  of  worlds.  We  can  readily 
imagine  conditions  which  a  globe  could  not  meet  :  spheres 
contain  the  most  matter  within  the  least  extent  of  sur- 
face ;  but  suppose  the  largest  surface  with  the  least  material 
were  required — how  realize  that  1  Why,  by  flattening 
orbs  into  plates  :  their  surfaces  would  then  be  immensely 
extended,  and  multiplied  room  be  afforded  for  occupants. 

The  wonderful  problem  is  solved  in  the  rings  of  Sa- 
turn. In  them  matter  is  spread  into  flat,  wide,  and  thin 
sheets,  presenting  an  area  for  living  beings  nearly  as  ex- 
tensive as  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  planets.  One  of  the 
magnificent  plateaus  exceeds  twenty-one,  and  the  other 
thirty-four  thousand  miles  in  width,  with  an  average  dia- 
meter of  over  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  miles : 
their  estimated  thickness  being  only  one  hundred  miles  ! 
What  a  proof  of  the  resources  of  mechanical  science,  as 
displayed  in  the  heavens,  is  this  !  And  we  may  be  very 
sure  that  those  resources  in  the  modelling  of  worlds  are 
not  exhausted  here.  The  interval  between  a  sphere  and 
a  plate  may  be  filled  up  with  every  degree  of  variation. 
Most  of  oxir  neighboring  worlds  are  oblate  spheroids,  and 


194  RINGS    OF    SATI'KX. 

why  not  other  forms,  starting  in  other  directions  from  the 
spherical  ?  Unique  in  our  system  as  discs  are,  they  .may 
be  supposed  to  prevail  elsewhere,  on  account  of  the  eco- 
nomy of  material  and  the  dense  populations  they  can  ac- 
commodate. Travelling  over  both  sides  and  the  edges, 
the  inhabitants  find  materials  for  their  chemical,  mechani- 
cal, and  decorative  arts,  with  little  trouble. 

As  in  such  worlds  subterranean  and  mountain  mining 
would  be  nearly  or  wholly  superseded,  there  could  be 
no  need,  as  in  fact  there  could  be  no  development,  of  a 
central  upheaving  power,  so  indispensable  in  spheres. 
The  rings  of  Saturn  present  the  fairest  of  conceivable 
fields  of  locomotive  engineering.  Had  ancient  poets 
heard  of  them,  they  would  have  made  them  race-courses 
for  the  gods.  If  the  smaller  one  were  cut  through  and 
opened  out,  to  serve  as  a  plank -bridge  to  the  moon,  it 
would  reach  as  far  beyond  her  as  she  is  from  us.  As  the 
outer  planets  are  thought  to  be  the  oldest,  practical 
science  may  possibly  be  further  advanced  on  them  than 
with  us.  The  form  of  the  asteroids  has  not  been  deter- 
mined. 

Wherever  the  idea  of  worlds  being  created  for  factories 
and  their  inhabitants  for  artificers  is  distasteful,  it  must 
be  so  for  want  of  reflection — nothing  else.  We  all  too 
much  confine  ourselves,  like  tethered  animals,  to  small 
circles  of  thought.  We  seldom  raise  our  eyes  above  the 
ground,  and  when  we  do,  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  fact, 
that  the  heavens  in  their  details,  and  as  a  whole,  are 
purely  mechanical ;  that  celestial  are  the  same  as  terres- 
trial mechanics  ;  that  our  orb  is  as  purely  celestial  as  any 
other ;  that  all  are  working  parts  of  one  literal,  veritable, 


MALLEALLU    IUO.N    I,\    THE    HEAVENS.  195 

material  machine  ;  that  all  are  of  the  same  original  sub- 
stance, and  all  moved  by  one  and  the  same  force. 

That  other  orbs  are  like  ours  in  the  physical  employ- 
ments of  their  occupants,  who  can  doubt  ?  So  far  as 
science  has  progressed,  the  same  elements  of  light  and 
heat,  and  the  cardinal  law  of  gravitation,  are  found  to 
pervade  all — those  in  our  vicinity  and  those  most  distant. 
Then  we  are  pretty  sure  that  some  at  least  of  the  chief 
agents  of  the  arts  with  us  are  not  confined  to  us,  since,  as 
every  one  knows,  cosmical  masses  of  iron  are  repeatedly 
caught  on  the  earth's  surface,  as  she  whirls  onwards 
through  space. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  composition  of  aerolites  proves 
them  foreign  bodies,  though  their  common  ingredients — 
silex,  sulphur,  magnesia,  and  the  two  magnetic  metals, 
nickel  and  iron — are  known  to  us.  That  iron  is  em- 
ployed in  the  heavens,  meteoritic  messengers  all  but  tell 
us,  and  they  tell  us  something  more.  The  metal  is  not 
found  here  in  a  pure  state,  but  has  to  be  laboriously 
smelted  out  of  stone  bearing  little  resemblance  to  it ; 
hence  the  fact  of  its  appearing  in  its  malleable  state,  is  a 
significant  one,  indicating,  if  it  indicates  anything,  that 
the  precious  material  exists  in  its  purity  in  other  orbs, 
though  not  in  this ;  and  leading  us  to  infer  that  the  peo- 
ple there  have  probably  not  the  means  of  reducing  it 
from  ores.  Had  the  means  been  wanting  here,  it  had 
been  a  native  metal  also  here.  Let  us  not  do  injustice  in 
our  thoughts  to  the  Creator,  by  supposing  these  speci- 
mens come  from  uninhabited  establishments,  or  that  it  is 
stored  up  where  none  are  benefited  by  it.  lie  wastes 
no  material — makes  not  an  atom  of  matter  in  vain. 


196    AEROLITES — GOD  EVER  ACTING  ON  MATTER. 

Moreover,  of  metals  native  in  the  heavens,  iron  and 
nickel  are  not  the  only  ones.  Aerolites  furnish  traces  of 
copper,  cobalt,  manganese,  and  even  of  tin.  Is  it  then 
presumptuous  to  conclude  that  these  substances  are  ele- 
ments in  the  arts  of  w,orlds  they  come  from  ?  What 
other  conclusions  can  be  arrived  at  ?  To  what  other  con- 
ceivable purpose  can  metals  be  put  in  worlds  in  which 
they  are  ?  Of  the  functions  assigned  to  meteoric  couriers 
one  surely  is  to  inform  those  upon  whose  territories  they 
alight,  that  a  community  of  staple  occupations  unites 
them  to  the  occupants  of  other  planets,  if  not  of  other 
systems  ;  and  to  prove  this,  they  bring  specimens  of  sta- 
ple materials  with  them.  In  the  samples  left  with  us, 
iron  vastly  abounds  ;  an  intimation  that  it  plays  as  im- 
portant parts  in  other  orbs  as  it  plays  on  this.  Strange, 
that  information  of  such  intense  interest,  and  so  wonder- 
fully brought  home  to  us,  is  not  more  dwelt  on.  But 
many  are  afraid,  and  others  ashamed,  to  accept  a  theory 
which  makes  it  the  business  of  people  in  the  stars  to 
multiply  their  comforts  and  conveniences  somewhat  as 
we  do — i.  e.  to  work  in  the  same  materials  in  which  God 
works. 

But  if  finite  beings  are  through  eternity  to  be  engaged 
in  making  fresh  discoveries,  and  finding  fresh  sources  of 
enjoyment  in  matter,  are  we  to  suppose  the  Creator  has 
ceased  from  His  works  ;  that  his  wisdom  in  it  and  power 
over  it  are  exhausted  ?  No,  indeed.  On  the  contrary, 
we  may  safely  conclude  that  he  is,  and  for  ever  will  be, 
as  much  occupied  with  it  as  he  has  been.  Gathering  it 
where  dispersed  into  new  worlds,  new  forms  of  worlds ; 
placing  it  under  new  conditions,  imparting  to  it  new  pro- 


TWO    LESSONS    DERIVED    FROM   THE   SUBJECT.       197 

perties,  and  evolving  new  products  from  it ;  stocking  it 
with  new  faunas  and  floras,  and  peopling  it  with  new 
orders  of  intelligences.  Thus  will  God  pour  out  his 
thoughts,  and  imprint  them  in  that  glorious  Book  of  Re 
velation — the  repository  of  all  his  conceptions — which  is 
open  to  sentient  beings  everywhere,  and  hy  which  they 
everywhere  become  acquainted  with  him.  How  else,  in- 
deed, can  he  he  so  well  known  as  the  Author  of  all 
things,  but  in  his  works,  which  the  more  they  are  studied 
the  more  utterance  fails,  and  must  for  ever  fail,  to  say 
how  great  and  good  they  are ! 

To  conclude  :  Two  lessons — one  addressed  to  nations, 
the  other  to  classes  and  individuals,  may  be  learned  from 
the  preceding  pages.  First,  that  the  stone  of  offence 
against  which  ancient  nations  stumbled  and  fell,  was  the 
rock  upon  which  their  prosperity  and  perpetuity  should 
have  been  based.  (See  Chap.  I.  Section  III.)  The 
second  is  a  corollary  of  the  first ;  but  enough  has  been 
advanced  to  induce  artificers  to  hold  their  professions  in- 
ferior to  none,  and  to  urge  them  to  excel  in  them,  remem- 
bering that  in  no  character  does  the  Creator  so  promi- 
nently, constantly,  and  universally  appear  as  in  that  of 
THE  MECHANICIAN.  And  if  hereafter  the  parable  of  the 
talents  is  to  be  literally  fulfilled,  enlightened  elaborators 
will  be  counted  among  the  most  profitable  of  servants, 
because  of  their  activity  in  discovering  and  applying  for 
the  good  of  their  kind,  the  great  productive  agencies  lo- 
cated in  the  orbs  on  which  they  dwelt. 

THE    END. 


31 


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